The divine unity of Scripture

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PRIlSrCETON, N. J.

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THE DIVINE UNITY

OF

SCRIPTURE

THE DIVINE UNITY

OF

SCRIPTURE

BY THE LATE REV.

ADOLPH SAPHIR, D.D.

'Ronton

HODDER AND STOUGHTON

27 PATERNOSTER ROW

MDCCcxcn

PREFACE

These lectures of Dr. Saphir were delivered in
Kensington, at the close of 1889 and beginning
of 1890. They are, in some respects, the most
important of all his writings, as they give, in con-
nected form, his matured views of the relation of
the two great divisions of the Bible. No preacher
or writer of our day had such a clear insight into
the spirit and connection of the sacred writings.
This was the great charm of his preaching, which
made it so attractive to many earnest -minded
Christians of all churches. It was full of instruc-
tion, because it brought out the deep meaning, quite
apparent when indicated, — for his interpretations
were not fanciful, but real, — of the symbols and
prophecies of the Old Testament, as well as of the
narratives and sayings of the New. The unity
of teaching he most clearly proved, and strikingly
illustrated. His identification of Jehovah with Jesus
can scarcely be disputed, by any careful and prayerful
student of Scripture. It is everywhere manifest, in
the claims and teachings of Jesus Himself. His
distinction between monotheism and Jehovahism is
vital, and clears away much of the vague mistiness
of modern speculation. Dr. Saphir was a man of
genius and commanding intellect, belonging to a

VI PREFACE

family famed for literary ability throughout Germany
and Hungary. His Jewish mind and training en-
abled him easily to apprehend the typology and
eastern imagery of the Bible. He had also the
great advantage of understanding thoroughly both
the philosophy and literature of Germany, having
been brought into painful contact in his youth with
Hegelianism (by which he was much attracted), as
well as with the now prevalent materialism. He
understood, therefore, much better than most English
theologians, the sources from which many of the
weapons are derived, that are now used, in the
criticism of the Old Testament. These lectures are
better than directly controversial. Indirectly, as for
instance in meeting the attempt to weaken the
authority of Christ's testimony to the ancient scrip-
tures, they seriously affect the position of recent
assailants of the antiquity and authenticity of the
books of Moses and the prophets. They bring out
also such an organic connection between the Penta-
teuch— as the basis — and the books which follow,
and also between the histories, psalms, and pro-
phecies themselves as to render the attempt to
revolutionise the times and order exceedingly diffi-
cult. I may state, in conclusion, that Dr. Saphir
had these lectures carefully written out by a well-
known reporter, which was his usual method, and
was preparing them for the press, when he was so
suddenly and unexpectedly removed from the earthly
scene. They are published — with, of course, cor-
rections for the press — -just as he left them.

G. CARLYLE.

London, 1892.

CONTENTS

LECT. PAGE

1. The Eternal Word and the Written Word . i

2. A Book Revelation an Intrinsic Necessity . 20

3. The Relation of the Human, Historical, etc..

Elements to the Divine . . . .38

4. The Testimony of Jesus considered— and Decisive 62

5. The Jews— as Custodians and Witnesses . . 83

6. Israel since the Dispersion — an Evidence of the

Truth of Prophecy . . . . .104

7. The Church of Christ based on the Old Testa-

ment—The New Testament . . .' . -125

8. Present Aspects of Doubt and Unbelief as regards

THE Scriptures ..... 149

9. Alleged Discordance between the Old and New

Testaments . . . • • . t68

CONTENTS

10. The Perfect Harmony of the Old and New

Testaments ...... 191

11. The Books of Israel and of the Church shown

TO be organically connected . . . 216

12. Our Faith based on Facts — and the Bible a Book

of Facts ...... 238

13. Objections to Miracle have no Basis in Reason 262

14. The Doctrinal, Typical, and Prophetical Aspects

of the History of Israel .... 286

15. The Deep Spiritual Meaning of the Decalogue

and of the whole Law .... 309

16. The Jewish Ordinances shown to reveal vividly

the Gospel ...... 337

THE ETERNAL WORD AND THE WRITTEN WORD

The Bible a living book in the present day — The organic connection
between Jesus Christ the eternal Word of God, and the Bible
the written Word of God — As Jesus the Son of God and Son of
Man, so the Bible the Word of God and yet an intensely human
book — As Jesus Son of David, so the Bible a Jewish book,
written by Jews, but for all nations — Objections made to God
revealing Himself in a book — How it became spread among the
nations — Influence of Greek translation — How it has outlived
persecution, imprisonment, rationalism, infidelity, pantheism, and
criticism — Never more a living book than at present — Translated
into all languages, adapts itself to all nations — Its great influence
on English and other literature — Its power over children — Testi-
mony of Huxley in regard to this — Professor vSt. Hilaire — The
style of the Bible — Heine — Contrast between inspiration and genius
— The Bible never old — General Schmidtt's answer to Frederick
the Great — Strauss's remarkable statement.

My subject this morning is — The Bible a Living Book
in the Present Day.

Between Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of God,
and Scripture, the written Word of God, there is
an organic connection ; and because there is this
unity there are a number of resemblances, which
strike even the most superficial observer, between
Jesus Christ and the Bible. I shall instance only
three.

B

THE ETERNAL WORD AND

The first is that Jesus is the Son of God, the
Lord from heaven — who came from above ; and that
Jesus at the same time is the Son of Man who in
all things became like unto His brethren. So we
behold the Scripture — the Word of God and yet an
intensely human book, written by men and for men,
and breathing everywhere the atmosphere of human
life and of human emotions.

The second parallel is this — that Jesus not merely
is man born of a woman, but that He is the Son of
David and the Son of Abraham. He came out of
Bethlehem. He was brought up in Nazareth. He
taught in Galilee and Judsea, and over His cross
the words were written " Jesus, King of the Jews " ;
and the special relation in which Jesus stands to the
Jews was not merely for a certain period, but for all
the ages, as long as this earth stands and the sun and
moon endure. Likewise the Scripture is an intensely
Jewish book. All the authors, both of the Old and
New Testament writings, not even Luke the beloved
physician excepted, were Hebrews of the Hebrews.
Jewish is the history, Jewish is the tone in which
it is written ; even the Greek writings of the New
Testament speak with the voice of Israel ; and
the full contents of holy Scripture will never be
thoroughly understood, until Israel is again brought
back to the allegiance and faith of its Messiah.

But although Jesus came to His own, yet Jesus is
the Light of the World, the Blessing of all Nations,
and the name of Jesus is to be made known among
all families and kindreds of the earth, for there is
only one God and one Mediator between God and
man — the man Christ Jesus. Likewise is this
Jewish Bible the book for the whole world, and here

THE WRITTEN WORD

there is neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian, Scythian,
bond nor free. It is the book of humanity.

Third parallel : Jesus Christ spoke in the simplest
possible language. He taught daily in the temple.
He spoke in the streets and in the concourse of the
multitudes. He said, " He that hath ears let him
hear," and yet only they that were enlightened by
the Spirit of God were able to understand His words.
Only His sheep hear His voice. Likewise the Bible
is the simplest book accessible to the most illiterate
and to children, and yet it requires the illumination
of the Holy Ghost in order that its simple words
may be understood and its lucid and clear invitations
and announcements may be accepted.

If there is this resemblance between Christ and
the Scripture, there is also a resemblance between
the effect of Christ's words, and the effect of the
Scriptures, on the minds of men. The words of our
blessed Saviour drew round Him various circles,
more or less distant from Him. The outer circle is
pictured in the officers who went to take Jesus,
and who said, " Never man spake like this man."
There was something so unique, so real, there was
something so high above all human utterances in
the words of this man, that this very peculiarity
declared unto them His sacred right of authority.
The world has never heard such a voice. The world
has never heard such words and such wisdom.

Nearer to Christ is another circle. When the
men who were in the synagogue of Nazareth and
who listened to the words of Jesus as He expounded
His mission to them from the prophet Isaiah, bore
witness to Him, and were astonished on account of
the gracious words which flowed from His lips, their

THE ETERNAL WORD AND

feelings were touched, their imagination was roused.
Still nearer were those who, after the Sermon on the
Mount, were astonished at His teaching, and said
that He spoke with power and not as the scribes.
Here the conscience and the heart were stirred.
There is a message of God Himself to men in the
words of this man.

Still nearer to Christ were the disciples who said,
" Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words
of eternal life " ; and yet closer to Him were the
apostles, and all Christians after the coming of the
Spirit on the clay of Pentecost, who, in the fulness of
the assurance of understanding and of joy, were able
to say, " The darkness is past and the true light now
shineth."

But to-day I wish to speak only of the very
outermost circle round Christ — the world that says
of the Scripture, " Never man spake like this man."

But before I speak of the Scriptures or Bible —
" the Book " — I wish to remind you of the objections
which have often been brought forward against our
assertion that God has embodied His message unto
mankind in a BOOK. That seems a strange and a
mechanical thing to some men who are conversant
chiefly with their own intuitions and with the specula-
tions of the human mind. Let us think, then, for a
moment why God has chosen a book to be the
channel, the vehicle of His thoughts and of His
purposes to mankind.

The gift of language is very wonderful, nay, it
is divine. It is the Rubicon which none of the
lower creation have ever crossed. Man alone upon
earth speaks, and we are unable to separate thought
and self-consciousness from words. Man is able to

THE WRITTEN WORD

communicate his thoughts and his feelings to his
fellow-man in words. Man is able to embody his
experiences in words. As long as human beings
attained such a long life as we read of in the
book of Genesis, tradition was a safe vehicle for
conveying important thoughts and events and facts
to subsequent generations. But, very soon, man felt
the need of securing and embodying his words in
such a form that they would be steadfast and correct
and easily accessible. And what a wonderful bene-
factor of the human race was he who invented
writing ! It seems as if, by writing, thoughts were
imprisoned, stereotyped ; but, rather, by means of
writing, thoughts receive wings to fly abroad through
all the ages and nations of the earth. Without
writing, human progress would have been almost
impossible, individual progress exceedingly slow, the
progress of communities scarcely perceptible.

And here, again, there is a distinction to be
made. Some of the ancient nations embodied their
thoughts in writings which appealed to the eye,
reminding the eye of objects and actions, by pic-
tures, which were brought before it, whereas, a far
more perfect way of conveying our thoughts is by an
alphabet which, through the eye, affects the inner
ear, and in which every sign is representative of a
sound ; — this was the kind of writing which was
known, probably to the patriarchs, certainly to
Moses and to the people of Israel in his day, so
that we meet now with this extraordinary fact, that
the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and the Assyrians,
nations far greater and more powerful than the
Jews, earnestly wishing to give immortality to
themselves and to their history, embodied their

THE ETERNAL WORD AND

past experiences in great and colossal monuments
upon which there were inscribed mysterious figures.
Notwithstanding, for centuries and centuries they re-
mained unknown to the world, and within even the
last century they exercised, and sometimes baffled,
the sagacity of the most ingenious, whereas this
poor despised nation — God's nation — was able ^ from
the beginning, in an easy, correct, and accessible
manner, to embody its history, also in a compact and
continuous method, — and for ages all the educated
nations of the earth have known that history. Your
children and the children of most of the nations of
Europe were familiar with that history before they were
familiar with the history of their own country. When,
therefore, God said to Moses, " Write in a book,"
and again, " Write in a book," and when we find
that our Saviour and all the apostles laid such great
emphasis upon that which is written, and when John
in the Apocalypse received again the command,
" Write in a book," do we not see that God acted,

^ In a paper on the great discovery of the cuneiform inscriptions of
Tel-el-Amarna by Professor Sayce, the discoverer, read at the Victoria
Institute in 1889, it is said "How highly educated this old world was
we are but just beginning to learn. But we have already learnt enough
to discover how important a bearing it has on the criticism of the Old
Testament. It has long been tacitly assumed by the critical school that
writing was not only a rare art in Palestine before the age of David, but
was practically unknown. Little historical credence can be placed, it
has been urged, in the earlier records of the Hebrew people, because
they could not have been committed to writing until a period when the
history of the past had become traditional and mythical. But this
assumption can no longer be maintained. Long before the Exodus,
Canaan had its libraries and its scribes, its schools and literary men.
The annals of the country, it is true, were not inscribed in the letters of
the Phoenician alphabet on perishable papyrus ; the writing material
was the imperishable clay ; the characters those of the cuneiform
syllabary."

THE WRITTEN WORD

not merely with the most profound wisdom, but also
with the most fatherly adaptation to the wants of
humanity ?

But I must advance a step further. By degrees
the books of the Old Testament were written, as the
history of the Old Testament developed. Israel
after the captivity, having been, by the judgment of
God, delivered from idolatry, now concentrated all its
religious and intellectual energy upon the Scripture,
the law, and the teaching which God had given
them, — and with the utmost reverence and the most
scrupulous fidelity they collected and they preserved
the sacred writings. But the book was in Hebrew
and it was in Palestine, in a corner of the world ;
and if this book is for the world, who is to publish it
and give it unto the nations ? Then there came
that wonderful conqueror Alexander the Great, a
bright meteor appearing for a brief time, — and this
was his great work that he introduced the language
and the culture of Greece into Asia. Thus there
was formed a bridge between the Jews in Palestine
and the whole outer world. The Greek language
was destined to become the language of the whole
inhabited earth, and thus in the providence of God,
through the existence of multitudes of Jews in
Alexandria and the surrounding countries, there was
produced the translation of the Hebrew Bible into
the Greek Septuagint, which served a double purpose
— first, God's Scriptures were now translated into a
language in which they could reach all the known
nations of the earth ; and secondly, that very
language, the Greek language, was made plastic
to express those ideas which no Greek, in fact
no nation of the world, ever had before, and which

THE ETERNAL WORD AND

were embodied in the New Testament — the ideas
of humility, of grace, of God, — and afterwards the
evangelists and the apostles found ready to their
hand the Greek language in which they carried the
tidings of salvation unto all the nations of the earth.
When this book was thus formed — the Old Testa-
ment by the care of the Jews, the New Testament
by the care of the early Church — then it began its
history among the nations ; and what I wish to
impress upon you to-day is, that if we have the book
at present as a living book amongst us, this is a
wonderful fact, for the persecution of it has never
ceased.

This book was in the first place persecuted by
pagan Rome. There was a persecution of the
Bible and of the people that possessed it. One of
the persecutions was in the year 303. The early
Christians delighted in the Word of God. The
early teachers of the Christian faith exhorted them
to study the whole of the Word. Irena^us says,
" Read the whole Scripture because it is written
' Of every tree of the garden shalt thou eat.' "
Origen says, " You must not neglect the Old Testa-
ment but study it equally with the New, in order
that you may be as a good householder bringing
forth out of his treasure, things both old and new."
And thus at the public assemblies of the Christians
large portions of the Scriptures were read ; and since
copies of the Scriptures were expensive,^ those

^ Writings were, however, much cheaper at this period of the early
Church than many suppose. There were great numbers of copyists of
the Greek and Latin writers, so that copies could be got for very
moderate sums. There were many copyists or scribes, doubtless, also
in the Church,

THE WRITTEN WORD

Christians who were rich spent large sums of money
in getting copies distributed among the poor members
of the Church. So the Christians often met to-
gether in friendly and familiar intercourse, in order
that the Scripture might be read aloud to them ;
and so intently did they listen to the reading of the
Scriptures that Eusebius tells us that one John in
Egypt, who conducted services, was able to repeat
not merely chapters, but whole sections of the Word
of God. The pagans saw that these Scriptures were
the very strength of the hated doctrine, and therefore
the edict of Diocletian went forth. Many copies of
the Scriptures were burnt, and many of those who
kept the Scriptures were put to most painful and
agonising deaths — two bishops among them. Papal
Rome also persecuted the Scriptures, but chiefly in
this way — that instead of being the custodian of
Scripture it became the jailer of Scripture, and for
many centuries the Word of God was hidden from
the people, and legends and traditions of men
became the food of the human mind. When Martin
Luther emancipated the Scriptures and sent them
forth into the world, the discovery of printing, under
the providence of God, having been made only a
few years before, the teaching of Luther began and
continued, with the key which opened the Scriptures,
namely, justification by faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Then the nations of Europe came and
listened gladly to the heavenly voice. Still the
Book had not exhausted all the persecutions it was
to endure, for after a while it was persecuted by
Rationalism, — and it is very important to note this
fact ; for some of those who call themselves ad-
vanced, but are in reality the most retrograde people

THE ETERNAL WORD AND

we have among us, are, perhaps unconsciously to
themselves, leading us back again to that dreary
sandy desert. A Rationalist does not believe in the
divinity of Christ, does not believe in the direct
interference of God in miracle, does not believe in
prophecy as foretelling future events, does not believe
in the expiatory atonement of our Saviour. What
does he believe ? He believes no more than he
might know without the Bible, except that in Jesus
there appears a beautiful and a grand character.
This Rationalism, while treating the Bible outwardly
with respect, leaves it like Samson shorn of his
locks and his eyes blind when the cry went forth,
" The Philistines are upon thee." Oh, no wonder
that there is no strength and no energy in this emas-
culated Bible.

Then came the period of infidelity — bold, mocking,
scornful, calling the Bible a liar, and predicting that
in fifty years there would not be a trace or a vestige
left of this book. Then, even in our own days, there
came Pantheism, which said that miracle was im-
possible, that there was no personal God, that that
which is God becomes conscious of itself only in the
human mind, and that therefore all the narratives
concerning Jesus Christ were only mythical garments
by which to represent an idea. Pantheists derided the
Bible as a thing that had long had influence, but had
now disappeared from among living powers.

Then came the internal criticism, applying the
resources of history, of physical science, of archaeology,
to examining the Scriptures and the authenticity and
integrity of its various books, which has precisely
the same effect on the mass of people as tradi-
tion had under the influence of Rome, — namely, to

THE WRITTEN WORD

make them think that the simple and unlearned
man is not able to understand the Scripture, that
there is a hedge of thorns and briars round about
it, and that only those, who devote themselves to
the study of specific points, can with any certainty
ascertain what is true and what is spurious in the
Bible. And yet notwithstanding these facts — that
pagan Rome sought to kill the Bible, and papal
Rome to imprison the Bible, Rationalism to emas-
culate the Bible, French infidelity to deride the
Bible, Pantheism to bury the Bible, and this modern
criticism to remove the Bible to an infinite distance
from the generality of mankind, — the Bible lives, like
the Jews. Pharaoh tried to drown them, another
great king tried to burn them. Haman tried to give
them up to an ignominious death, but notwithstanding
all this they live, and so does the Bible live, and not
merely does it live, but it has never shown so much
vitality as in the present day.

Is not the Bible Society a wonderful fact ? A
great philosopher, many years ago, who was president
at one of its meetings, gave a very remarkable
address, in which he showed the importance of the
Bible Society ; he said that in the Bible Society the
principles of the Reformation were, as it were, em-
bodied before all nations — that this book is the
property of all men, that in the Church of Christ all
members are in direct communication with God
Himself, and that it is easy for all to understand
it. This Bible Society has published more than
3 1 2,000,000 copies of the Bible and translated it
into 350 languages, and 70 of these — and this is a
remarkable fact — languages which at the beginning
of this century possessed no alphabet, and not the

THE ETERNAL WORD AND

slightest vestige of a literature. We can scarcely
measure the importance of giving to a people letters,
the possibility of a literature, and, to begin that
literature, the Book of books. To have done this
seventy times is a wonderful achievement. While
the Church of Rome boasts that among all nations
of the earth she is continually repeating the Mass
in the dead Latin language which appeals to no
human heart, evangelical Christianity has gone forth,
renewing the Pentecostal miracle, and showing the all-
embracing philanthropy of our great God and Saviour.

This book is full of interest, whether to enemy
or friend. Never has the Bible been so minutely
studied, never has it occupied so much the attention
of men generally, and never has the desire of Chris-
tians to be made acquainted with the whole counsel
of God as embodied in it, been so strong as at this
day. It is indeed a living book.

And yet I have only touched, as it were, the
outside of this great subject. So familiar are we with
the facts, that it is necessary for us to look them more
fully in the face in order to impress them on our
minds. No other book can be compared with this,
simply as a book. It is an Oriental book, but as Sir
William Jones pointed out long ago, all the other
Oriental books, be they ever so poetical, or be they
ever so wise, in order to be made intelligible and
palatable to the western mind, require to be trans-
fused. Many omissions are necessary, and many
modifications are requisite. How is it that this
Oriental book has taken possession chiefly of Japhet,
of the western nations — of England, of Germany,
of America? How is it that this Oriental book,
whether taken to Greenland, or to Madagascar, or to

THE WRITTEN WORD 13

South Africa, or to the interior of India, is a book
that appeals to the mind and heart of those that
hear it. Only last week I read an account of a
missionary who was reading the ist chapter of
the epistle to the Romans, in which heathenism is
described in its effects, and when the chapter was
finished, a Brahmin who was present went up and
said " That describes us." He recognised in the words
the condition of his own nation. To this book
there is no limitation of race or nationality. It has
become in all nations a household book, a home
book, a heart book. Look at the history that it
has had in the past. We can measure the univers-
ality of a book by the power it has of being translated
into other languages. Look at the German Bible.
The German Bible is the standard of German litera-
ture. All Germans, whether they be believers or
unbelievers, Romanists or Protestants, acknowledge
that Martin Luther, in translating the Bible into
German, transformed and fixed the German language.
The German language as it were renewed its youth,
nay, more than that, it imbibed vivifying and trans-
figuring elements which it never possessed before.
Every turn of Luther's Bible, every mode of expres-
sion is intensely German, out of the very depth of
the heart of the German nation. Is it not so with
your English Bible also ? How is it that this
Hebrew book becomes the most German and the ,
most English of all books ? Because it speaks to
the heart of humanity. Consider all the minds
which in the past this book has influenced. Unless
you examine with this special purpose, — thanks to
the writings of Milton and Shakespeare and other
great authors, — you cannot imagine how the Bible

14 THE ETERNAL WORD AND

narratives, the Bible truths, the Bible similes, the
Bible expressions, have entered into the very
marrow of English literature. You continually find
terms and expressions which they owe to the Bible.
And I am sure that all will bear me witness that
I tell what they themselves have experienced when
I say that if you have a speech of the most brilliant
eloquence, or a piece of the most subtle and acute
reasoning, and, if a Bible passage be quoted, that
passage in the midst of all that is brilliant will shine
forth more brilliant still, and will appear deeper than
all that is profound, and will take hold of men and
of the affections of men, as nothing else can.

Consider again the minds which have bowed in
admiration of this book, — as Leibnitz, Milton, Lord
Bacon, Pascal, Faraday, Newton, Locke, — metaphysi-
cians, men of natural science, poets and philosophers
— not that I wish to adduce this as an argument for
the truth of the Bible. It was not because these men
were wise and learned, but because the Holy Ghost
enlightened them that they saw the truth as it is in
the Scriptures ; but this fact proves that although
there are many wise men who reject the Bible, it is
not their wisdom that forces them to reject it, neither
is it the wisdom and learning of others that incline
them to receive it. This book is high above all
human wisdom or genius, — coming from above with
its own light and with its own power.

But I would remind you of another and far
larger class to whom the Bible has thus endeared
itself and been its own witness. It is a very strange
thing that there is no other book in the world
for children like the Bible. There is a remarkable
passage in one of the addresses of Huxley, in which

THE WRITTEN WORD 15

he says that although he is entirely in favour of secular
education, yet he is completely at a loss what substi-
tute to have for the Bible, for there is no other
book in which the highest, the most sublime and
purifying thoughts are made so accessible and so
attractive to the child's mind as the Bible. Professor
St. Hilaire writes — " I have travelled north and south,
and east and west, and have been much struck with
the fact that in all the countries in which the Bible
is read there is a literature for children and for work-
ing men, but in those countries in which the Bible is
not read, as in Italy, or even in France, there is no
literature for the children or for the poor. Where
do you find history ? where do you find narratives ?
where do you find characters ? where do you find
doctrine ? where do you find poetry — such as the
Bible presents ? Universal is its language. It is like
the sun which enlightens all lands."

Poets especially have acknowledged the suprem-
acy of the Bible. Goethe, that great representative
of modern thought, has said, " Let the world pro-
gress as much as it- likes, let all branches of human
research develop to the very utmost, nothing will take
the place of the Bible — that foundation of all culture
and of all education."

Look at the style of the Bible, for every book has
its style. What is the style of the Bible ? The style
of the Bible is difficult to describe, but every one has
a distinct idea of it. The simplicity, the perfect
objective calmness of its narratives, its power, its
lucidity, its attractiveness, its terseness — every one has
felt, whether he believes it or not. Where is there in
the whole realm of literature a narrative like that of
Abraham taking up Isaac to Mount Moriah, or of

i6 THE ETERNAL WORD AND

the raising of Lazarus, or of Joseph making himself
known to his brethren ? Or take the whole gospels
in which, not for a single moment, does the enthusiasm
or feeling of the writers betray itself Did you ever
think of the 23rd Psalm, — six short verses a com-
pendium of all human life, — a little nightingale that
has gone through all the countries of the earth pour-
ing forth its inimitable melody, thrilling the heart and
bringing peace and consolation to the soul ? Do you
think that all the poets in the world if they were
working for ever so many years, could produce such
six verses ? How wonderful is that style of the Bible !
I will read you what a great artist, one of the
greatest lyrical poets, has said about the Bible. He
being a true artist saw what was beautiful in the
Bible, and because he was a true artist he saw that
there was an infinite distance between anything that
art could produce and this book. These are the
words of Heine, for many years a pantheist, a frivolous
and pernicious writer, but a man of great genius :
" What a book ! great and wide as the world, rooted
in the depths of creation and mounting into the
mysterious azure of the heavens. Indeed it is God's
Word, while all other books evince only human skill.
In the Bible is not a vestige of art. It is impossible
to criticise its style." This man came very near
seeing what was the secret of the style of the Bible.
As nature is above art so is the Bible above other
literature. When you see an artificial rose you say
" How clever." When you see a real rose you say,
" How beautiful ! how fragrant ! " As nature is
above art, so is inspiration above nature. The man
of genius is above the commonplace man. He is a
law to himself. His words, his pictures, his sculpture

THE WRITTEN WORD 17

are as it were a creation. But although the difference
between the man of genius and the ordinary man is
exceedingly great, it is nothing compared with the
difference between a man in whom the Holy Ghost
has kindled His light, and by whom the Spirit of the
Most High is speaking, and the greatest and most
brilliant genius. It is the voice of God but yet a
human voice which speaks to us in this Word ; and all,
whether they believe or not, must say " Never man
spake like this man " : " Never book was written like
this book,"

Let us pass now from the form to the substance
of the Bible. There is no other book in the world
so interesting to man as man, as the Bible. What is
new ? What is old ? People often make great mis-
takes in not distinguishing between modern and new,
for there are many modern things, which have been
buried thousands of times already and are only
walking about like ghosts, having no blood and life
in them ; whereas there are old things that are full
of life, because they are eternal. In many branches
of knowledge, there is progress. Fact is discovered
after fact and experience comes after experience,
and so by degrees stone is laid upon stone and the
great edifice is reared. But in the things which
interest us most deeply there is no progress. The
questions which were asked in the days of Job are
the same questions which are asked now, and, apart
from revelation, man has not advanced one single
step towards answering these questions. We know
with the utmost certainty that the three angles of a
triangle are together equal to two right angles, and
there can be no doubt about the calculations of
astronomy as to the heavenly bodies, — but of what

c

THE ETERNAL WORD AND

use is such knowledge to man woman and child, in
affliction and in death ? But the Bible contains
those things which concern our inmost spiritual and
everlasting life ; and, therefore, no matter what turn
history may take, no matter what development
science may have, the intense interest and youth of
the Bible will remain, throughout all ages, the same.
There is a story told of one of the generals of
Frederick the Great. This general was a true
believer in Scripture, and Frederick the Great often
addressed questions to him, partly to annoy him, and
partly to elicit some answer. He said to him one
day, " Now tell me, why do you always revert to the
Bible ? " and General Schmidtt gave him this answer,
which I think a most beautiful answer, " Because the
Bible reveals to me a Father who numbers the
very hairs of my head ; because the Bible reveals to
me a Saviour who by his blood expiates every one
of my sins ; and because the Bible shows unto me
a heaven where I am to spend an everlasting and
blessed existence."

And now I shall read you the testimony of a
German pantheist, the celebrated Strauss, who did
not believe in a personal God, and who during his
last illness said to his friends : " I am just going out
like a flickering candle that is burned down." In
one of his latest books he said, in order to account
for the power of Christianity : *' The misery, caused
by the consciousness of our faults and the reproaches
of conscience, is relieved by Christianity. Through
its doctrine of an expiatory atonement, the desolate
feeling, that we are the victims of blind chance, van-
ishes before the sheltering arms of Providence, and
the darkness of the gloomy night of our earthly life

THE WRITTEN WORD 19

is illuminated by the prospect of an immortal and
heavenly blessedness." Just what the Christian had
said from his experience, and stated as a fact de-
rived from the Bible, this man sees to be just that
which meets the requirements of the human heart
and conscience, and sees that it is provided by
Christianity. There is no peace without a Father
who loves us and cares for us, a Saviour who has
taken away the burden from our conscience, and a
hope of everlasting blessedness, which is a hope that
" maketh not ashamed."

I shall conclude by saying a few words about
Jesus ; and while I speak of Jesus, think of the Bible
parallel. Jesus, — born at Bethlehem, brought up at
Nazareth, never at the colleges of the learned, re-
jected by the Pharisees, derided by the Sadducees,
crucified, dead, and buried, — lives. The mothers
bring their little babes to Him. Children sing to
Him " Hosanna ! " An innumerable multitude of
weary and heavy-laden ones hear His voice, " Come
unto Me." And the chosen of God confess, " Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Unto
whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal
life." Amen.

II

A BOOK REVELATION AN INTRINSIC NECESSITY

A book revelation an intrinsic necessity — Sir Walter Scott's one book —
View of French sceptics — Why persecuted at all — Because it claims
divine authority — Testimony of friends — Contrasted with other
books — Need of a revelation — Kant's testimony to the gospels as
above reason— Hegel's dying testimony — Six great realities revealed
onlyin the Bible: i. God — fully and tenderly revealed ; metaphysical
knowledge of God impossible ; the religion of the Old Testament
not monotheism but Jehovahism : 2. Man — creation a revelation
only of Scripture ; so also the position of man on the earth ; and the
great future of redeemed man : 3. Grace — unknown to the world ;
but through the whole Scripture, the golden thread of grace, and the
scarlet thread of atonement : 4. Incarnation — no resemblance to
grotesque fancies of heathenism ; the Mediator rooted in the very
centre of humanity and very centre of Godhead ; this foreshadowed
clearly in Moses and the prophets : 5. Morality — Bible morality
totally different from that of mere ethics ; founded on personal
love : 6. God's kingdom — not an abstraction, but a reality ; God
the King ; Christ the Vicegerent ; Satan Ilis adversary; mankind
the centre ; the earth the territory ; Israel the centre of mankind
— The Bible, with its history, laws, poetry, maxims, biographies,
epistles, everything in it, is the Word of God, not contains the
Word of God.

The subject which is to occupy us this morning,
and if it please God also on the next occasion, is the
following : The Bible is the Word of God.

I wish to dwell more specially to-day on the
Bible as a revelation from God, and to consider in

A BOOK REVELATION AN INTRINSIC NECESSITY 21

my next lecture the human, historical, and progress-
ive aspect of Scripture in relation to Christ and the
Spirit of God.

A divine revelation embodied in a book is not
unworthy of God, and it is according to divine wis-
dom and love, that God, who revealed Himself in
acts and in words to the fathers by prophets and
apostles, should have caused the whole revelation to
be committed to writing in order that all future
generations might possess it in a form — secure, com-
plete, correct, and easy of access.

A book revelation is an intrinsic necessity. In
no other way could the divine purposes of love have
been secured, and, as we have already shown, this
book has made a deep impression upon mankind, so
that among all the books of the world it stands out
pre-eminent — even as Jesus Christ stands out pre-
eminent among all the children of men.

A few days before his death, when Sir Walter
Scott was in his library, he said to his son-in-law,
" Will you read something to me ? " and when asked
what book, his immediate reply was, " You need
not ask. There is only one book." A few years
ago, as a French pastor tells us, there was a meet-
ing of a number of literary and scientific men,
some of whom were sceptics and materialists, and
in the course of conversation the question arose : —
If we were banished to a lonely island, or if wc
had to suffer imprisonment for a lifetime, what book,
from among all the books of which human literature
consists, would be chosen to be our sole companion ?
and the unanimous answer was, " the Bible."

This book which in the wonderful providence of
God arose gradually, the art of writing being known

J BOOK REVELATION

to the children of Israel at least as early as the days
of Moses, and which afterwards, through its transla-
tion into the Greek language, found its way to all
nations, is, now as ever, after having contended against
all persecution and opposition, a book unique in
its vitality, in its attractiveness, in its interest, and in
its power. Greek literature stands out above the
literature of all other nations, and all agree in
acknowledging its brilliancy and power ; but it does
not reach the heart of man, for it does not breathe the
atmosphere of eternity ; it does not reach the deep
things of the human soul ; whereas Hebrew, a much
poorer and barer language, planting itself before the
very sanctuary of human consciousness, has taken
hold of the hearts and souls of all races and families
of the earth. Yet, while dwelling on this, and on
the peculiar, powerful, and attractive style of Scrip-
ture, we were after all only in the outer court. It
is as when standing before a beautiful and glorious
cathedral where, at the very outset, the gates attract
our attention and offer to us many interesting points
of observation, but the real beauty and glory can
only be seen when we pass on, — within. Or, it is like
standing before a garden where there is a hedge
which does not altogether prevent us from seeing
what is beyond. Through the gaps in the hedge you
can get glimpses of some of the lovely flowers and
perceive the fragrance of others, yet you cannot
really see the beauty of the garden till you enter it
and stand within.

Yet the attractiveness of the Bible, its unique
style, the hold it takes upon the human heart — none
of these would have existed if the Bible had been
only human. It is because it stands above mankind

AN INTRINSIC NECESSITY

that it dwells within mankind ; and who is He that
inhabits the high and holy place, and yet dwells in
the human heart, but God the Lord ; — and as God is,
so is His Word.

I shall speak now of Scripture as it is regarded
by the friends of Scripture. As I reminded you that,
whilst, in regard to Jesus, it was acknowledged that
no man ever spake like this man by those that
were strangers to His grace, there was also an
inmost circle of His disciples who believed and
were sure that He was the Son of God, so is it
also in regard to the Scriptures. The Scriptures
might say to those who persecute them, " Many
good works have I done among you. For which
of these good works do ye persecute me ? " And
the answer of men would be, " For a good work we
persecute thee not, but because thou, being a book
like other books, claimest to be a divine book." But
the testimony of the intimate friends of the Bible is
that Scripture is the Word of God.

It may be said that the testimony of friends is not
of decisive value, and yet, after all, who but a friend
can witness effectively ? The witness of enemies
is negative. So it was in the case of Jesus. Judas
said, " I have shed innocent blood." Pilate said, " I
find no fault in Him." The Pharisees were unable to
bring any accusation against Him, or to convince Him
of sin ; but it was only the apostles who were able
to testify of the person of Jesus ; and remarkable it is,
that that disciple who was most intimately acquainted
with the humanity of our blessed Saviour — he who
leant on the bosom of Jesus — was the disciple who
most emphatically testified that they had beheld the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father. And

24 A BOOK REVELATION

the testimony of the friends of the Bible is of great
importance when we remember this — that the friends
of the Bible were not born friends of the Bible —
were once strangers to the Word, and enemies of the
Word ; but that there was given to them light from
above, and a conviction which nothing in this world
can shake. Another peculiarity about the friends of
the Bible is this — that every one of them is an inde-
pendent witness. Every one of them can say like the
men of Samaria, " Now we believe the Bible, not
because we have been so taught from our infancy
. . . nor because of the testimony of the Church and
its ministers ; but because we have seen it ourselves,
and heard its voice, and are convinced that it is the
Word of God. For that light, which shines into every
one that believes, is the same light which shone in
those who knew Him, and now shines in the original
testimony of those who bore witness unto Him, —
that wc may believe that this is indeed the Christ,
the Son of God, and that believing we may have
life through His name."

Thus, when the whole world acknowledges the
peculiarity of the book, and when we know the
reason of that peculiarity, we contrast it with all
other books. All other books are ephemeral — simply
pamphlets which come and go. This is for all
ages. Others address themselves to a limited sphere
of mankind whether of race, or of learning, or of class.
This speaks to all mankind. Others, in the course
of centuries, are exhausted and all that is valuable
in them is absorbed. This book is inexhaustible.
The mine is deep, the more we search, the more are
there brought out treasures of gold and silver from
its hidden depths. Other books contain errors, which

AN INTRINSIC NECESSITY 25

have to be refuted, and imperfections which have to
be supplemented. This book is Hke gold tried in
the fire. And not merely is it free from error, but it
contains in itself a rectifying power which is able to
cope with every error and heresy, as it arises in the
history of mankind ; and this, because it is God's
book.

A revelation from God. Do we require a revela-
tion from God ? The wonderful gift of reason, that
beautiful light and noble instrument with which God
Himself has endowed us, is indeed most precious, but
it is the lesser light. It is to shine in the realm of
this world, and has to do with the things of time.
It is capable of receiving light from above. It is not
light creative, but light receptive. Two very powerful
testimonies have been given to this by men who are
acknowledged in modern times to be stars of the first
magnitude in the horizon of philosophy. The one was
Kant, a man of the most subtle analysis. He wrote
thus to a friend. The extract has not been published
in any of his biographies, but was mentioned,, recently,
in an Augsburg paper. He said, " You do well in
that you base your peace and piety on the gospels,
for in the gospels, and in the gospels alone, is the
source of deep spiritual truths, after reason has
measured out its whole territory in vain." And
another great leader of thought, the pantheistic
metaphysician Hegel, on his death-bed, would have
no book read to him but the Bible ; and said that if
God were to prolong his life he would make this
book his study, for in it he found what mere reason
could not discover. His favourite hymn during those
dying days was a German hymn of which the bearing
is, "Jesus, draw me entirely unto thyself"

26 A BOOK REVELATION

PVom above there comes revelation. " Eye hath
not seen " — observation cannot discover — " ear hath
not heard " — tradition and the learning of the past
ages cannot transmit — " neither hath entered the
heart of man" — genius and intuition cannot find
out — "what God hath prepared for them that
love Him, but unto us He hath revealed it by His
Spirit."

Now, of those things that are revealed to us by
the Spirit of God, and which are contained in the
Scriptures, from Genesis even to the culminating book
of the Apocalypse, I wish now to speak to you ; and
I single out six great things — I do not like to call
them ideas, because they are realities — which have
been revealed to us in the Bible.

The first is God. The world in its ignorance and
folly knows not God. The world in its wisdom
knows not God. The world in its sinfulness knows
not God. The world in its virtue, Pharisaic and
stoical, knows not God. Nature does not reveal
God. Nature, when it pleases God through it to
speak to the heart, reveals the existence, the power,
the goodness, and the wisdom of God ; but nature
does not reveal God Himself Polytheism did not
know the one God, but only an abstract, a supreme
force or reason. Atheism denies God. Pantheism
degrades God. Positivism ignores God. Scripture
reveals God. The idea of God that Scripture gives
to us is so majestic, and yet so heart-winning, is so
sublime and yet so simple, is so full of variety and
apparent contradictions, and yet so united, that all
those who, by the grace of God, have learnt from the
Scripture, feel and are convinced that God has re-
vealed Himself to them. Infinite and incomprehens-

AN INTRINSIC NECESSITY 27

ible, dwelling in light that is unapproachable, — He yet
condescends to make Himself known to the children
of men, even to babes. Eternal and omnipresent,
He lives with us from day to day, and is the
home and sanctuary of His people, in all genera-
tions, holy, so that He chargeth even the angels
with folly, and yet the Redeemer and Saviour of
sinners, just, and the justifier of the guilty, terrible in
His majesty and in His judgment, tender and com-
passionate, merciful, patient, and long-suffering, in-
finitely blessed in Himself, and needing nothing
external for His life and for His joy, — and yet weep-
ing over Jerusalem and sighing over His sinful nation ;
stretching forth His hands against a gainsaying people,
and, again, calling heaven and earth to sympathise with
Him, all fields and all trees to rejoice with Him, be-
cause He has found the one that was lost, and has
quickened him that was dead ; revealing Himself to
us, and making known to us His secret thoughts ;
and yet, after all His revelations, we say, " Who is
like unto God? Oh, the depth of the riches." He
tells Israel that they must make themselves no image
of God, for they have at no time seen any form or
similitude of Him. But He Himself speaks to Israel
in such a concrete way. He has eyes, and He sees ;
He has ears, and He listens to the voice of our suppli-
cation. The sacrifice of Noah ascends unto Him, and
He smells a sweet savour. He has hands, and they
are stretched forth to rescue the perishing people.
He arises and awakes and rouses Himself out of His
sleep, and hastens to deliver the godly. He re-
members His promises of old. He sometimes forgets
to be gracious and to hear. It repents Him that He
has ever created man ; and then He rejoices as if

28 A BOOK REVELATION

there were no joy for Him except in the salvation and
in the blessedness of His people. Who would ever
venture to speak thus of God ? But, Scripture speak-
ing thus of God, there is no danger of the simplest
human being misunderstanding it. The spirituality
of our human God far transcends all the ethereal
speculation of human wisdom. He compares Himself
to a father : " As a father pitieth his children."
He compares Himself to a mother that is not able to
forget her child. He compares Himself to a bride-
groom that rejoices over his bride. He speaks of
Himself as a friend who cannot do anything, unless
He communicates it first to His chosen ones. Oh,
when the Bible brings us God revealing Himself, it
is no abstraction ; it is no philosophy : it is full of
life and full of love and enters into the very inmost
heart of man. There is nothing so sublime, and
there is nothing so pathetic.

But we must go still deeper into this subject.
God reveals Himself. Knowledge of God in the
sense in which metaphysicians take it, God denies to
be possible for human beings. As metaphysicians
speak of the being of God, of the essence of God, of
the substance of God, and the necessity of God's exist-
ence, it is impossible for us to understand such things.
Neither man nor angel can comprehend God, or
possess an intellectual knowledge of God, as of some-
thing that he is able to estimate. There was no
light in the Holy of Holies, for, " I the Lord dwell
in darkness ; " and none can know God. But God
reveals Himself as He wishes to reveal Himself, not to
the intellect only, but to the whole man. Where
mind and will meet, in their central unity in the heart,
there it is that God makes Himself known by the

AN INTRINSIC NECESSITY 29

Scriptures. " The fool hath said in his heart there
is no God," and only the fool thinks that he can
know God as a philosophical study. Both reason
and will combine in the heart ; and the children of
God with the heart believe that God has sj^okcn to
them. And therefore you will never find in the
Scripture the idea of God or the substance of God —
none of those metaphysical, highflown abstractions
and impossibilities ; but the Scripture speaks of the
dear face of God. That is all we want. We want
to see His face. That is all we want of father and
mother, and wife and child. And the Scripture
speaks of the name of God. That is the aspect of
God manwards, and therefore you must never, when
you read the Bible and when you read God, think
that the God that is mentioned there is the God of
whom the world speaks — that abstraction, that idea,
that power, that heaven, that " providence." Oh no,
it is Jehovah ; it is Christ ; it is God in His aspect
towards us. This, He has revealed to us. Therefore
it is a great mistake to say that the religion of the
Old Testament is monotheism. The religion of
the Turks is monotheism. The religion of the Old
Testament is Jehovahism. We are taught that this
Jehovah, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who
brought us out of Egypt and led us into the land
of Canaan, is the God, and also that Jesus Christ
is the true God, and everlasting life. For God (as
we have no better name for it) is person. Do you
know what is implied in being a person ? We are
but of yesterday. A few years ago we had no
existence. By degrees we become self-conscious
and distinguish ourselves from all other human
beings, and from all the things that are around us.

30 A BOOK REVELATION

Only by degrees and imperfectly do we find out
what we are, what is within us, our thoughts, our
will, our character, our reason, our emotions ; but
never, at any given moment of our earthly life, are we
in full consciousness of our own individuality. Never
in any given moment of our life do we see all that
is within us and all the thoughts and experiences of
our past ; and, continually, do we feel that there are
influences from without, and that there are dark
things within, which interfere with our individuality,
and do not belong to us. But now rise for a moment
to a different and eternal sphere. Think of Him
who is from everlasting to everlasting, who, before
any of the worlds were created by His will, said, " I,"
who is always conscious of His thoughts, and of His
purposes, and of the perfections and attributes which
are in Him. Therefore does God continually call
Himself, " I." " I am." " I am the Lord." " Then
shall ye know that I am he ; " and in the New
Testament " Be not afraid ; it is I ; " " Unless you
believe that I am he ; " down to the last chapter of
the book of Revelation, where He says, " I, Jesus."
Now of this one — that is " I " the only one of whom
we can say in perfection that He is a person, — will
you not admit of Him what you have to admit of the
youngest child and of the most limited human being,
that, unless He chooses to tell you His thoughts
and His will, you cannot know them ? You may guess
them, but you cannot know them. He speaks.
And if God is person, will you not allow to that
person the right which you claim for yourself?
There are some to whom you open yourself, and
there arc others to whom you cannot open yourself
" How is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us,

A .V IN TRINSIC NE CESS I TV 31

and not unto the world ? " " The secret of the Lord
is with them that fear him." " The father and I
will come." God as a person, in His sovereignty
and of His abundant love, reveals Himself.

But I must pass on now to the second fact —
Man. Apart from Scripture we do not know that
the world was created by God. The wisest Greeks
and Romans did not know it. No cosmography
has ever been discovered in which there is the
slightest trace of the idea that God created the
heavens and the earth. Matter was considered to
have existed from eternity. A speculation, which has
been again revived in our own days, spoke of atoms
out of which by degrees the present cosmos was
shaped. If God had wished to state at the beginning
of Scripture, " Now I begin to speak, and here ends
all human wisdom, and where human wisdom ends
revelation begins," — if God had wished, as it were,
to place a barrier to separate His book from all the
books of the world. He could not have done it better
and more effectively than He has done it, by de-
claring " In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth." That single sentence separates
Scripture from all the rest of human wisdom and
productions ; and the creation of man in the image
of God, with majesty and solemnity, the whole
Godhead as it v/ere retreating into the depth of its
wisdom, and of its love, and saying, as it had never
said before, " Let us make man in our image," —
only Scripture reveals. And the fall and sinfulness
of man Scripture reveals. It shows man his guilt,
without degrading him, like the cynics. It shows
man his misery, without driving him to despair. It
shows man his exaltation, and yet ascribes all the

32 A BOOK REVELAl^ION

glory and honour to God. Instead of dwelling on
speculations as to the pre -Adamite man, why
will not the men of science tell us what the post-
Adamite man will be — the future man ? Scripture
tells us what the deutero- Adamites will be — the future
of humanity, when Christ shall appear, and when
they who are Christ's shall be made manifest ; and
as we have borne the image of the earthly Adam,
so we shall bear the image of the heavenly — not
through any evolution, but by the renewing of the
Holy Ghost, and by the resurrection power of the
great Son of God. Scripture reveals to us —
man.
/ The third thing that the Bible reveals is — Grace.
The world does not know what grace is. Grace is
not pity ; grace is not indulgence or leniency ; grace
is not long-suffering. Grace is as infinite an attribute
of God as is His power, and as is His wisdom.
Grace manifests itself in righteousness. Grace has a
righteousness which is based upon atonement or sub-
stitution, and through the whole Scripture there run
the golden thread of grace, and the scarlet thread of
atonement, which together reveal to us for man a
righteousness that comes down from heaven.

Here is the great difference between the Bible
and all religions of the world — that, whereas man
tries to make himself more worthy of the Deity, the
Bible declares to us that we begin with perfection of
righteousness, — even the best robe descending down
to us through the love of the Father and the atoning
death of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

I pass on to the fourth idea — Incarnation ! Some
people have spoken as if the Hindoos and the Bud-
dhists have also the idea of incarnation. Very few

AN INTRINSIC NECESSITY 33

words are required to completely demolish this asser-
tion. In the Hindoo theology we read of avatars
or gods assuming monstrous and multiform appear-
ances for a definite purpose — as of rewarding a
favourite, or of bringing justice and vengeance on an
enemy. But to the fact of incarnation, as it is
revealed to us in Christ, these grotesque fancies have
not the slightest resemblance ; and as for Buddhism,
it cannot teach incarnation, because it is atheism,
and does not believe in God at all, and therefore
those Buddhs that appear from time to time are
simply men of great wisdom and virtue who, after
teaching for a certain number of years, vanish again
into what they consider to be the greatest blessed-
ness— non-existence. But what is revealed to us in
Scripture ? That the Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us, that God was manifest in the flesh,
that the Son of God took upon Him our nature, and
was born of a woman, and that this wonderful per-
son,— eternal, and appearing in time, — infinite, and
clothing Himself with humanity, — is Son of God and
yet true man, two natures in one person, and that
He is to be such for ever and for ever. And that as
truly as the Son of God lived here, and died upon
the cross, so truly is the Son of Man now sitting at
the right hand of the Majesty ; and that such a
glorious being is now the Mediator rooted in the
very centre of humanity, and rooted in the very
centre of the Godhead — oh, what a wonderful reve-
lation is this. And in Scripture this is asserted not
merely in the gospels and in the epistles ; — but from
the beginning of Genesis, through the whole of
the Old Testament, there runs the announcement,
there runs the preparation — there is the instalment,^

I)

34 A BOOK RE VELA TION

SO to speak, of this great fact, there is the angel of
His presence in whom is the name of God, as in the
marvellous vision that appeared to Isaiah when he
saw also the glory of Christ, as he beheld the Lord
sitting on a throne high and lifted up.

I come to the fifth point. Nowadays people are
always talking about morality, about ethics. Oh,
they do not want dogma, they want ethics. Even
into our pulpits this unscriptural word has forced its
way. Let me assure you that if an idea cannot be
clothed in Scripture words, you may be sure that
this idea has departed from Scripture truth and
fulness. What is there so great and noble in the
words " morality," " ethics," or as the Germans call
it, sittlicJikeit. They all mean the same thing —
custom. Ethos, customs ; Diores, manners. Sittlich-
keit is that which is become the habit, or, in other
words, the highest idea that man has of rectitude,
character, and conduct. It is very noble, it is very
good, it is very great, but after all it does not rise
above the level of humanity. Not so with the
Bible. An ancient Jewish teacher made this re-
mark : " There arc several hundreds of precepts,
there are several hundreds of prohibitions in the
Scripture, but all these hundreds (I think about six
hundred) may be reduced to ten — the ten words
which God spoke ; and these ten words may be
reduced to two- — -love to God, and in God, love
to your neighbour; and these two may be reduced
to one, ' the just shall live by faith.' " He was not
far from the kingdom of God. The Bible speaks
not of morality, but the Bible says, " Enoch walked
with God." God appeared to Abraham and said, " I
am thy God. Walk thou before me and be perfect."

AN INTRINSIC NECESSITY 35

And what are the ten commandments ? They
are not founded on an abstract idea, not upon what
the Greek calls the good, the true, the beautiful.
" God spoke these words and said, I am the Lord
thy God which brought thee out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt
have no other gods beside me." And in each of
the first five commandments it is, " The Lord thy
God."

The Bible enters into all the details of human
life. The Bible goes into small minutiae of our con-
duct and of our circumstances, but upon each of
the Bible commands is written, " I am the Lord."
" Thou shalt put no stumbling-block in the way of
the blind." I am the Lord — identified with this
blind man. And Jesus says to us in that Sermon
on the Mount that is so much admired for its
morality — but morality is not there — something
much higher than morality and inclusive of moral-
ity, " As your Father which is in heaven is perfect ; "
and then He says not merely that, but " Abide in
me and I in you, for without me ye can do nothing."
And then a man like the apostle Paul says, " To me
to live is Christ." Where are the ethics now ? That
person the object of my life, the joy of my life, the
source of my life, nay, the very life of my com-
munion with God, our Wisdom says, "I am man"
— "Homo sum" — and everything that is human
interests me. The Bible wants to make us men of
God.

And, lastly, the Bible gives to us a revelation
of God's kingdom, and by " kingdom " do not
understand an abstraction of principles, the pre-
valence of ideas, not even the acceptance of Chris-

36 A BOOK REVELATION

tianity. That is not meant by the kingdom of
God. The kingdom of God means the kingdom of
God — God the King, Christ his vice-regent, Satan
his adversary, mankind the centre, the earth the
territory, Israel the centre of the nations, the trans-
figured Church with Christ the Son of Man come
down to reign on the earth. We are waiting for the
kingdom when He who first came out of Bethlehem
shall come down from heaven. His saints with
Him, and Israel converted unto Him, and all the
nations of the earth walking in the light of God, when
His will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven.
This promise, this hope, is traceable from the very
first promise about the seed of the woman that
should bruise the head of the serpent, to the 20th
chapter of the book of Revelation when that very
serpent is mentioned again — how he shall be bound,
and Christ shall gain the victory.

And now when I bring before you these things
which no human reason could ever have invented,
which no human ingenuity could ever have discovered,
and which, even after they are revealed to us, must be
made clear to us by the Holy Ghost, remember that
they are not stated in Scripture in a systematic and
methodical form ; — but in a method far more wonderful
and convincing. Just as in nature there is the most
harmonious irregularity — not like a systematic and
botanical garden — ^just as in nature all the different
powers co-exist and work together in a way which
we are not able to understand, light and gravitation
and electricity and all that God has caused to exist
in order to uphold the universe — so is it in the
Scriptures that from beginning to end at sundry
times and in divers manners by gradual manifestations,

AN INTRINSIC NECESSITY

acts, miracles, words, commandments, institutions,
God has unfolded His whole counsel.

Now in conclusion I will say only this. The
Bible from beginning to end ascribes glory to God.
He is the first and He is the last. He is the
beginning and He is the ending. " Glory to God in
the highest." That is written upon every page of
Scripture. Of Him and through Him and to Him
are all things. It is the Word of God.

I do not say that the Bible contains the Word of
God. I say that the Bible is the Word of God. I
think it a most erroneous and dangerous thing to
say that the Bible contains the Word of God. The
Bible with its history, with its laws, with its poetry, i
with its maxims, with its biographies, with its epistles,
with everything that is in it, is the Word of God. I
wish to notice the human element, the individuality
of the men who wrote, the gradual growth, the pro-
gressive manifestations of Scripture, in connection
with the person of Christ and the work of the Holy
Ghost. May the children of God remember me in
prayer that the Lord's blessing may be with us.

Ill

THE RELATION OF THE HUMAN, HISTORICAL, ETC.,
ELEMENTS TO THE DIVINE

The Bible is the Word of God — Pascal's statement in regard to it — The
relation which the human, historical, and progressive elements of
the Biljle have to the fact that it is the Word of God — God's acts
have priority, not only in time, but also in causality— He prepared
a nation for the coming of the Deliverer : I. By creating through the
law the feeling of the need of a Saviour : 2. By showing through the
types, etc., the way of expiation and of approach to God: 3. By
pre-figuring Christ by living men and also by things, as the
brazen serpent — A drama, not a monologue — Israel responds
either in faith or unbelief — Long pauses in direct miraculous inter-
ference— The historical books from Joshua to Chronicles called by
Jews the Former Prophets — In the histories there is shown the very
heart of man, the inner motives — Absolute judgment pronounced
on men — Wickedness described, not to attract, but, in its naked
hideousness, to repel — The Bible written by men for men — Their
individuality and circumstances clearly seen — The Scripture shows
us the humanity of the writers, in the very act of their being in-
spired and receiving the Word of God from above — The books of
Moses plainly the foundation of the Psalms, etc. — The prophets
found on those before them — The growth of the Bible — Christ's
double relation to the Scriptures.

I CONTINUE my subject this morning — Scripture is
the Word of God. In my last address I spoke to
you chiefly of Scripture as a divine revelation. Revela-
tion descends from above. It speaks to us out of
the fulness of divine omniscience. It reveals to us
spiritual and heavenly realities. It unveils to us a

RELATION OF HUMAN ELEMENTS TO DIVINE 39

world which we never could have discovered by our
own research. Here there is not a steep and laborious
ascent which reason attempts. Here there is not the
bold flight of genius, intuition, or imagination. Here
the things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered the heart of man, the things of
God which God freely gives to those that believe,
are unveiled to us by the Spirit of God who searcheth
the deep things of God. It is on account of the
things which are revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures
that the children of God recognise in Scripture the
Word of the Most High. Here, as we saw, there is
revealed to us the true and living God, as Pascal
wrote upon the memorial that he always carried
about with him — not the God of the philosophers,
of the wise, but the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, whom Athens did not know, whom Samaria
did not understand, the true and living God Jehovah.
He reveals Himself in this Word, and we know Him
— that God is light, that God is love, that God is
Father, Son, and Spirit. Plere is revealed to us
what no human wisdom could discover — creation,
and, without the knowledge of creation, man not
merely walks in ignorance and in blindness, but he
walks also in bondage and in servitude, as if there was
a blind force and fate surrounding him on every side.
Here is revealed to us the origin of man, the condition
of man, and the glorious prospect which God in His
wonderful love has put before us. Here the great
mystery is disclosed as we find it in no other
nation, and in no other book of literature — divine
grace through righteousness, by a sacrifice bringing
to us the salvation of God in all fulness, not as
the heathen nations dreamt of a sacrifice by which

40 RELATION OF THE HUMAN, HISTORICAL, ETC.,

they had to appease the gods, — but a sacrifice which
God makes, suffering in the person of Mis own Son, —
not as the heathen imagined sacrifices, services, self-
denials, which gradually and slowly may lead to the
goal of the acceptance of the Deity, — but, beginning
from the very beginning, with the love of God and
our full acceptance in Christ. Here is that wonder-
ful mystery of godliness, the incarnation, of which
there is no trace to be found anywhere else — that
God was manifest in the flesh, and that the Son of
God became man, to be man for ever and ever, the
true Mediator between God and man. We have
here the new life of God having communion with
us, and here the idea of the kingdom of God,
inward and spiritual, outward and manifested, having
for its two agents the nation of Israel and the
Church of Christ, and waiting yet to be revealed at
the second appearing of our great God and Saviour.
It is because we have found these things in the
Holy Scriptures, and because the Spirit of God has
made these things clear to our minds and our hearts,
that we find in the whole Scripture, large, capacious,
varied as it is, one spirit which pervades it, one light
which illumines it, one hope which animates it, and
that wc hear in it the voice of one, even of that
Eternal One who, having in His own mind purposed
in Himself the great plan of our salvation and of
His glory, has spoken to us and caused it to be
written for our instruction.

But now I must look more particularly at the
book in its various parts, and see the relation which
the human, historical, and progressive elements of
that book have to the fiict that it is the Word
of God.

ELEMEN'J'S TO THE DIVINE 41

The truths of which I have spoken are not put
before us in the Scripture in a systematic and
methodical form, so that doctrine succeeds doctrine,
and that the facts and the promises of God are
arranged for our learning. There is in Scripture, as
I said before, the same harmonious irregularity as
there is in nature. Above all, Scripture shows to us
a history in which God Himself was the great agent.
He takes the initiative. His acts have priority not
merely in time but also in causality. After the fall
of man God begins, by giving His promise, and after
the three great catastrophes or judgments — the
expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the judgment of
the Flood in the days of Noah, and the dispersion of
the human race at the Tower of Babel, — there begins,
in the call of Abraham, the golden history of elec-
tion and grace which does not end until the appearing
of Jesus Christ, and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost,
and concludes, when the apostle Paul had become
preacher of the Gospel, not in Jerusalem only, but in
Rome also. God chooses Abraham and delivers
Israel out of Egypt. God guides Israel through the
wilderness, and brings them into the promised land,
and raises up unto them judge after judge, and
chooses David from the sheepfold, and allows Israel to
go into captivity, and brings them back again through
the instrumentality of His servant Cyrus, and sends
the angel to Zachariah and to Joseph. God sends
His own Son. God sends the Spirit. A series of
acts direct from God Himself. As God acts, so He
speaks. There is interference of God in action, inter-
ference of God in revelation and oracle. He gives
His message to His servants the prophets. He gives
His law and embodies His thoughts and His pur-

42 RELATION OF THE HUMAN, HISTORICAL, ETC.,

poses in institutions. Through Moses His servant
He gives promise after promise, through a long series
of history, for Christ did not come immediately after
the fall, or immediately after the birth of Isaac,
Christ came " in the fulness of time." Century upon
century had elapsed ; and in this history the great
thing that God did was that He prepared a nation,
Israel, out of which Jesus was to come. " Out of
Egypt have I called my Son." He prepared this
nation which was not better than any other nation,
but which He had chosen in His sovereignty, first by
creating within them, through the law, the feeling of
the need of a Saviour ; secondly, by showing to
them through that very law, with its types and
appointments and institutions, the way of expiation,
and the way of approach to God. But not merely
did He prepare the nation by the law for the coming
of Christ, both negatively and positively, but He
pre-figurcd Christ by living men, — by Abel, by Isaac,
by Moses, by David ; and not merely by living men,
but also by things, like the brazen serpent, and the
various types which we behold in the tabernacle.
And those men whom He sent to Israel pre-figured
Christ by that in which they resembled Christ ; and
they also pre-figurcd Christ by that which it was
impossible for them to give to Israel — which only
Christ could give, so that both their excellences and
their deficiencies are like arms stretched forth in
intense longing for the advent of Him who was the
Only One — that was to come.

And not only was this done in the history of
Israel and in the words which God had sent to
Israel from time to time, but the nation itself had to
be prepared not merely for the first advent of Christ,

ELEMENTS TO THE DIVINE 43

but also for the second advent of Christ ; so that
everything that is told us of the nation of Israel,
which to many of us appears to be uninteresting and
unimportant, the genealogies of Israel, the different
statements that are made about the different localities,
and all the minute prophesy which speaks of their
restoration to their own land and their condition in
those days, are a necessary part of the Word of God
which will be seen in all its clearness and in all its
fulness, when that blessed time arrives. •^

But some one may think, " here all is divine.
God acts mostly in miracles. God speaks by visions,
and by direct revelation. God gives a pattern of
the tabernacle which Moses was to rear, showing it to
him on the Mount. All is of God, divine, super-
natural, miraculous." But if we thus concluded, we
should have an altogether erroneous impression. It
is a drama, and not a monologue. Israel responds.
Israel replies either in faith, or in unbelief, either in
obedience, or in disobedience, — either by going the
path that God appoints, or, by self-will, going cir-
cuitous routes ; God overruling all their unbelief
and all their unfaithfulness, for the election of God
standeth sure. Yet is Israel an agent, personal,
spontaneous.

And do not imagine that miracle upon miracle,
oracle upon oracle, succeeded in such rapid succession
that there were no intervals, so to speak, of quiet
natural development. Why, even during the forty
years in the wilderness, the miraculous element was
not so overpowering that it excluded unbelief. It
did not force faith. There were, even in those days,
men who acknowledged the hand of God, and men
who explained all things in such a way that God

44 RELATION OF THE HUMAN, HISTORICAL, ETC.,

was not acknowledged. And not merely were there
long pauses in the period of the Judges, and after-
wards in the period of the Kings, even as there
were 400 years between the end of Genesis and
the beginning of Exodus, and 400 years between
the end of Malachi and the beginning of the New
Covenant, but during the whole period of God's
dealings with Israel there was always the divine
initiative — there were always periods in which the
divine interference paused, so to speak, to see the
effect which it had upon the people, and to allow a
peaceful development of the nation in all its varied
private, family, and public life.

The books of Moses, which laid the foundation,
do, indeed, mostly contain the divine beginnings of
things ; and here we have chiefly, although not
exclusively, divine acts, divine initiation, divine
speech, divine law, and institutions. But when we
come to the historical books, from Joshua to the
book of Chronicles, we enter as it were upon a new
phase. And, as to these historical books, many
portions of which seem to us to be so entirely natural
and human, describing much that is imperfect and
much that is even sinful, I wish now to show you
what is their position in the Scripture.

I begin by reminding you, or perhaps telling
some of you for the first time, that the ancient
Hebrews who collected the Scriptures called the
historical books beginning with Joshua " The Former
Prophets," and in this they showed their wisdom,
for the history of the Jews, as you find it in Scripture,
is not like an ordinary secular history which simply
aims at the enumeration of events, in order to fill up as
fully and completely as possible the chronology of the

ELEMENTS TO THE DIVINE 45

nation's existence. In this history many events are
passed over, either silently, or very briefly, which to
a worldly historian would appear important ; and
others, which to the eye of sense and reason appear
insignificant, are treated with the greatest fulness
and circumstantiality. The history of Israel that is
given to us in the Scriptures has reference to one
point ; that is, the kingdom of God. It hastens to
one consummation ; that is, the advent of the Messiah ;
and everything recorded must stand in relation, more
or less direct, to this. Therefore they who wrote
those histories required to be of the prophetic mind,
that is, men of the theocratic spirit ; but it required
more than their theocratic spirit, for only He who knew
the end from the beginning could see these events
and personages in their proper relation to Christ and
to the kingdom. Moreover, in these histories there
is shown to us the very heart of man, the inner
motives out of which actions spring. And these
historians pronounce a definite judgment upon
men. This man was good, and walked in the ways
of the Lord and pleased the Lord, and the other
man was wicked, and did not walk in the ways of
the Lord.

Another requisite these historians had to ful-
fil. Whatsoever is written aforetime is written
for our instruction ; and therefore the events and
characters which they describe must have an ever-
lasting significance. They must be symbolical of
those truths and experiences which always repeat
themselves in the history of God's children. And
now who could be the real author of those books ?
Whether they be written by Samuel, or by Joshua,
or by some anonymous writer, who could have been

46 RELATION OF THE HUMAN, HISTORICAL, ETC.,

the real author of those books ? Who knows the
counsel of God ? Who beholds the image of Christ ?
Who searches the depths of the human mind, and
who provides for all generations of God's saints
instructive, edifying, guiding, and correcting history ?
Therefore the historical books, the books of the
earlier prophets, are " Word of God " in all that they
contain. If it be said, " Oh, there are so many
things in the historical parts of Scripture — sins,
vices, crimes, wickedness," — certainly ; God wants
us to know all this. God wants to show us what
the world is in which we live, and the anatomy
of our own heart ; and there is no wickedness
and villainy in the world, secret, private, or public,
that is not fully described in the Word of God, — but
as God alone can describe it, in its real nature
and depth and in such a way that the poison is,
as it were, hermetically sealed — not like the wicked
and filthy literature of the world which tries to make
evil appear seductive and guilt excusable. God,
like a father when he is sending forth his child
into the wicked world, gives us instruction as to
what we are to find in the world.

Or it is said, and it has often been said, " You
call this the Word of God, and it contains the very
words of the devil." Certainly it contains the words
of the devil. It is most important for us to know
what the devil says. One of the truths revealed
to us in Scripture, of which this age has no hold,
and of which believers have little hold, is the
important doctrine that is revealed to us concerning
the devil, and concerning his kingdom and his
influence over men. In the 3rd chapter of Genesis
we have the methods of Satan " Hath God said ? "

ELEMENTS TO THE DIVINE 47

In the ist chapter of the book of Job we have the
tactics of Satan, the accuser of the brethren. In
the 4th chapter of the gospel of Matthew we have
the most subtle stratagem of Satan when he tested
even our Lord Jesus Christ. We are not ignorant
of Satan's devices, and why ? Because God has
revealed to us the depths of Satan in His own word.
And the sayings of wicked men are reported, from
that first question of Cain, " Am I my brother's
keeper ? " unto that last one recorded in the 2nd
epistle of Peter, which you hear nowadays con-
stantly. Things have remained the same from the 1
beginning of the world. The course of nature and I
history is uniform, while you speak of the second 1
advent of Christ, and of supernatural manifestations. |

There is another section of Scripture of which itj
is sometimes thought that we can scarcely say of itt
that it is the Word of God ; and that is the response
of Israel to God's acts and to God's words — the
Psalms, the Proverbs, the book of Ecclesiastes, the
book of Job, and the Song of Songs. Suffice it to
say of these also that in them we see the purpose of
God, that this echo of Israel to His revelation should
be known to all generations ; and not merely do we
read the wisdom of Solomon which was very great,
but in the book of Proverbs wc read of that other
Wisdom which Solomon describes in the 8th
chapter, and which ivas, before the foundations of
the world were laid, and of which James says in
his epistle, " The wisdom that is from above."

But let us look at this human element in a more
direct manner. Do not imagine that, when we em-
phasise the divine authorship, we do not wish to lay
full emphasis upon the human authorship. On the

48 RELATION OF THE HUMAN, HISTORICAL, ETC.,

contrary everything that is in the Christian meets
this great fact with exultation and thanksgiving.
The Bible is written by men for men. " Do
not let God speak to us," said the children of
Israel to Moses, " but speak thou unto us." The
great promise which God gave unto Israel was this,
" A prophet like Moses will I raise up unto you from
among your brethren " ; and, although he was
possessed of final authority, yet he was of their
own brethren. An angel came to Cornelius, but the
angel did not preach to him the gospel with the Holy
Ghost sent down from heaven ; but Peter the apostle
preached to him the glad tidings of salvation. How
could it be otherwise when the only mediator between
God and man is the man Christ Jesus ? And in that
simple fact, that it is the man Christ Jesus who is the
Son of the Most High who mediates between God
and us, there is already granted the true, real humanity
of all the channels through which the Scriptures
were written.

Let us look at the men. We like to see them,
each with his own face. There was Moses brought up
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. There was Amos
taken from the simple scenes of shepherd life. There
was Daniel who was a statesman at the court of the
great world-monarchy Babylon, and of the succeeding
monarchies. There was Matthew who was a publican ;
there was Luke who was a physician ; there were
the apostles who were fishermen. There was Saul
who had been a disciple of Gamaliel. They lived in
different ages of the world's history, in different
countries, — and their different surrounding circum-
stances are reflected by their individuality and their
styles of writing. But that is nothing when we come

ELEMENTS TO THE DIVINE 49

to their own personal character. Oh, there are no
characters Hke the characters in the Bible. There is
nobody described in history, and there is no one that
you know at the present moment, whom you know
as well as you know Moses and David and the
apostle Paul. It does not matter that Moses was
eighty years old when God appeared to him in the
fiery bush, and that Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee
who had long resisted Christ when Jesus came and
converted him. These men God had chosen from
their mother's womb and separated unto Himself,
and all their birth and natural conformation, their
childhood, their youth, all their influences, their
sins and errors — everything was part and parcel
of God's chiselling and preparing of that instru-
ment by which He was to speak and to write.
Moses — we see what he is ; his zeal for God, his love
to his nation, his impatience, his impetuosity, his in-
dignation ; on the other side, his meekness, his self-
sacrifice, his boldness in asking God to change His
mind, lest the nations of the world should say that He
was not able to carry out His purpose, his wonderful
humility, his wonderful faith, and yet his human
weakness, so that he was not able to rise to the
height of the divine argument, and so that he smote
the rock instead of merely speaking to it, for which
sin, because he did not sanctify the Lord God, he was
not allowed to enter into the land of promise. Or
again, David, his fragrant childhood, his chivalrous
youth, his manhood with its manifold wanderings and
dangers, tears, sorrows and joys, his spirit of affection
and loyalty to his nation, by which he gathered to
himself all the noble and the meek of the earth who
feared Jehovah, his petitions, his cries of anguish, his

E

50 RELATION OP THE HUMAN, HISTORICAL, ETC.,

thanksgiving, his rejoicing and jubilation — we know
it all, — we can see into his very heart. As for the
apostle Paul, sent by Christ, enlightened by Christ,
inspired by the Spirit, he communicates to us the
whole counsel of God in his epistles, but he passes
all through his own experience. There is no doctrine
he states, no experience he describes, but we see it
vibrating through all the nerves and fibres of his being.
Thus when he describes in the 7th of Romans, " I lived
once without the law, but when the law came it killed
me," when he says to us in the 8th of Romans, " I am
persuaded that nothing shall separate us from the love
of God," or when in the 9th to the i ith of Romans,
he lays bare to us his heart, and we see it a weep-
ing heart having sorrow and heaviness continually
on account of Israel, God's nation ; or if you read the
Corinthians, where you can see Paul's conflict, or the
Philippians, where you can see Paul's peace, or the
epistles to Timothy and Titus, where you can see the
paternal apostle looking forward unto the coming
ages, — it is Paul who speaks — this man Paul and all
that is within him ; but God has used him not merely
to be a pattern to us, but that through him the teach-
ing should be given.

But you say, " Oh, that is very true, but how can
we imagine and how can we conceive human beings
receiving teaching and disclosures from above ? why,
they have nothing to do but just to receive them and
to send them forth again." Oh, it is not so. The
Scripture shows us the humanity of these men in the
very act of their being inspired and receiving the
Word of God from above. And the first piece of
humanity which we can all understand is this — that
they will not, — they are not willing. When God

ELEMENTS TO THE DIVINE 51

appeared to Moses and said, " Go now with my
message," Moses said, " No. Send some one else.
I am not fit." He resists. The apostles were the
witnesses of the resurrection, but they would not
believe it themselves for a long time. They doubted.
How did they become the witnesses of the resur-
rection ? Look at Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a man
of feminine temperament, gentle, sensitive, — and God
sent him with nothing but messages of rebuke and
judgment ; and whereas there were a great number
of flutes, and harps, and viols that were most
poetically playing to the nation cheerful and san-
guine melodies, God sent Jeremiah to destroy and
to pull down and to rebuke and to announce the
judgment of God; and Jeremiah expostulated "What
a selection you have made ! You choose the very
thing that lacerates me. / am to do this ? I will
not do this. I am distracted by reason of thy
terrors day and night." He expostulated with God.
He says, " Am I to weep away all my soul in rivers
of tears ? " He cursed the day of his birth ; he kept
silence ; but it burned within his bones as a fire,
and God's Word he must speak, and he did speak.
There you see God and the man.

Look at Daniel. God gave to him a vision. In
the 2nd chapter of Daniel there is an image repre-
sented. In the 7th chapter there is the revelation
given of the four monarchies, and of the descent
of the Son of Man from heaven ; but in the book
of Daniel we can see the effect that it had upon
him. He fainted. For days he was not able to
eat. It was as if his soul had gone away from
him. And then he asks the question, " What shall
the end of these things be ? " Or again, Isaiah, when

52 RELATION OF THE HUMAN, HISTORICAL, ETC.,

he saw the glory and heard the " Holy, holy, holy,"
said, " Woe is me " ; and again, when the great re-
velations were given to him, he burst forth in the
exclamation, " Who hath believed our report ? " or
" Oh that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come
down." And John in the book of the Apocalypse !
Now notice this. Of no book of Scripture can we
say so emphatically that it is God's Word, for it is
the book of the revelation which God gave of His
Son Jesus Christ. Certainly here is a divine objec-
tive authority, but the person of John the beloved
disciple we can see throughout the whole book.
And do you not remember in the 1st chapter he fell
down at his feet as dead, and Jesus comforts him ?
And do you not remember afterwards that no one
was able to open the book : " I wept m^ich. I wept
much " ? Do we who believe the Bible ever think of
the men by whom the Bible was written as mere
instruments and pens ?

But now I must emphasise the other side. Let us
take, then, the most subjective part of Scripture, the
Psalms. A man says to me, " Surely you do not mean
to say that the Psalms are God's Word. Are not they
David's word, his faith, his doubt, his impatience, his
thanksgiving, his experience ? " Of course they are.
But what if the whole David was God's Word ? What
if God had prepared and made and guided this David
that in him as a pattern, and an instalment in a finite,
imperfect and sin-mixed way there should, by the
Spirit, be shown forth the experience of Christ in an in-
finite, perfect, and altogether sinless and divine way ?
Is not the Psalter the prayer book of the Messiah ?
Is not the 22nd Psalm, although it does refer to
David, and was uttered out of David's own depth

ELEMENTS TO THE DIVINE 53

of heart, — really far beyond David's depth of
heart, and did he not by the Spirit say, " The Lord
saith unto my Lord " ? And in the 2nd Psalm in
which he says, " Thou art my son ; this day have
I begotten thee," and in all the Psalms in which
the events of Christ's life are predicted, and the
events of the lives of those who are identified with
Christ, — is it David who speaks, or is that true which
David himself said on his deathbed — the last words
of David the King of Israel, the sweet psalmist,
— The Spirit of the Lord spake in me} The Psalms
of David are the most subjective part of the Bible,
and it is most evident that all the Psalms of David
are God's Word.

Take Jeremiah. Certainly the message that he
delivered to Israel was none of his seeking, neither
was it to his taste, but does not Jeremiah know
perfectly that God has sent him and that he is not
one of the false prophets ? In no other prophet is
the contrast given with so much emphasis as in this
prophet between false prophets who also spoke what
they called " word of the Lord " — very beautiful,
poetical, religious, and pious. But God had not
sent them. In our days some men have the ignor-
ance and the audacity to compare the inspiration
of Scripture with the inspiration of Shakespeare
and poets and sculptors, for man has intuitions and
imaginations and ideas and may express them, —
but what is the chaff to the wheat ? " My word,"
saith the Lord, " is like a hammer that breaketh in
pieces the rocks," and also " like the rain which comes
down from heaven." And did not all the apostles
know with the greatest certainty and conviction that
the things that they spoke and wrote, they spoke

54 RELATION OF THE HUMAN, HISTORICAL, ETC.,

and wrote with the words, not which human wisdom
teaches, but which the Spirit of God teaches ?

And I wish yet to lead you still farther into
the human element of the Scripture. God reveals
to us His mysteries, but not like a magician or
thaumaturgist, in as bewildering and mysterious a
manner as possible, but in as simple and unostenta-
tious a manner as possible, just as our blessed Jesus
concealed what other men would have pronounced
publicly. His birth in Bethlehem after thirty years
was completely forgotten, and people thought that
He belonged to Nazareth. And during the thirty
years that He was in Nazareth, He did not go about
with a divine halo round His countenance.

We have the five books of Moses. As for their
composition, that belongs to another subject. These
five books of Moses, in some form or other, were in
the hands of Joshua and in the hands of the rulers
and kings, — for them continually to meditate on ;
and the promise was given to them that, if they
meditated on these books, God would bless them. I
do not know of any promise that God gives to us
for reading any other book. He is father to this
book and will stand by it. Then what is revealed in
Moses we see traces of, in all the other writings
which follow. Moses is constantly quoted by the later
historians and by the prophets. If it was only the
name which God pronounced to Moses, " The Lord
God, merciful and gracious, long suffering," and so
on, — it forms as it were the foundation of the Psalms
and the prophets, with the benediction of Aaron :
" The Lord bless thee and keep thee." Then we
find in the days of David and the other psalmists
that they are studying the Word of God. Then we

ELEMENTS TO THE DIVINE 55

find that Isaiah quotes the prophet Micah. Then
Daniel studies the books of Jeremiah. Then we
find that the apostles arc always referring to the
books of Moses and the prophets. Then we find in
the 2nd epistle of Peter a reference to the epistles
of the apostle Paul. So you see how it grows. No
evolution. It is not as if that which was started
first by Moses, by itself, in the mind of man,
developed and became better and clearer and fuller.
They did meditate on it ; they did think about it ;
they did pray over it ; but it did not develop by
itself God had to interfere again and again with
new revelations, creative beginnings direct from
above. And this fact is of the greatest importance
for this reason. Our blessed Saviour did not come
to Israel after David and Solomon, when one might
have said, " You see now what is the result of the
development of the Jewish nation. At last they
have produced David, and then they have produced
Solomon, and now they produce the real man, who
is the Messiah." From Abraham to David, fourteen
generations ; from David down to the Babylonish
captivity, fourteen generations ; and from the Baby-
lonish captivity through a still drearier territory to
Joseph, fourteen generations. And when of the
tree of David there was nothing left but what Isaiah
calls a stump, when the tabernacle of David was
fallen low and the representative of the house of
David was the blessed and dear Virgin Mary who
brought a pair of turtle doves because of her poverty,
then Jesus came ; for this is the motto of Israel,
" With man it is impossible, but with God all things
are possible."

Now whereunto shall T compare this growth of

56 RELATION OF THE HUMAN, HISTORICAL, ETC.,

the Scriptures ? Shall I say that it is like a
building ? But what building have you ever seen
that begins in this way — that there is a house of
small dimensions — it has a firm foundation ; it has
good walls ; it is covered in by a roof of safety and
shelter ; but it is small, and after a number of years
you see it larger, and after a number of years you
see it still larger ? There is no such building ; but
the Scripture is like that. The five books of Moses
contain a house for God's people. And then the
Scriptures were enlarged, and still further enlarged,
until they became complete. Or sliall I say that
it is like the growth of a plant ? That is better,
because the seed contains everything. And what is
the seed ? The Word of God is the seed and
contains everything ; and out of this seed the
Scripture came, and in every part of the growth
there is the life of the seed, and there is the form of
life that is also in the seed. Or shall I compare it
to the human being — the infant, the child, the youth,
the man ? Yes. Well, let us look at the infant.
Genesis — that would be the infant. Oh, but the
apostle Paul in the epistle to the Galatians, writing
in the fulness of time and after the Pentecostal
disclosures, cries out, " This infant Genesis knows
everything. This scripture Genesis has foreseen
that the Gentiles apart from the law shall be justified
through faith in the promised seed." Is Genesis
then omniscient ? Genesis is not omniscient, and
the men that wrote Genesis were not omniscient ;
but God who caused Genesis to be written was
omniscient. The first three chapters of Genesis
find their explanation in the last three of the book
of Revelation. Melchisedck is explained in the

ELEMENTS TO THE DIVINE 57

epistle to the Hebrews, — the patriarchal life in the
doctrine of justification by faith and the ingathering
of the Jews. What a wonderful book ! So compact
did it become at last in the days of our blessed
Saviour that there was no doubt about the books
which constituted the Scripture — the things that arc
written.

And now I can only touch on another subject, but
I must mention it as it confirms all that I have said.
You believe in Jesus, the Son of God, and the Son
of Man, the Messiah. He has a two-fold relation to
Scripture as God ; and as man He has a two-fold
relation to the law of God and to everything. As
Messiah He is under the Scripture. As Son of God
He is above the Scripture, as He is above the law.
All that Moses and the prophets wrote pointed to
Christ. All was fulfilled in Him. Now, when Christ
was upon earth, what was His attitude to the
Scripture ? Our blessed Saviour never speaks of the
principle of the Scripture — of the idea of the
Scripture — of the teaching of Scripture — of the
promises of the Scripture, — of this or that in the
Scripture, of " the divine element " in the Scripture,
as our modems would say, or of the Word of God
contained in the Scripture. He always speaks of
the Scripture — that body — that written thing — that
collection of books. And of that Scripture He says,
" I do not receive testimony from man," but " Search
the Scriptures. They testify of me." Therefore it
is a divine testimony. But what in the Scriptures
testifies of Him? Everything — the whole Scriptures —
the Scriptures themselves. So He says, " Think not
that I am come to destroy Moses and the prophets.
Not till heaven and earth pass away shall one jot

58 RELATION OF THE HUMAN, HISTORICAL, ETC.,

or tittle " (that is, one of these httle letters) " be
removed." When He argues with the Jews and
quotes incidentally a passage from the Psalms, He
says in parenthesis, " And the Scripture cannot be
broken." He does not say, " This verse cannot be
denied," or, " The teaching of the Psalms cannot be
gainsaid " ; but simply, *' Because this verse is in
the Scripture, ipso facto, the Scripture stands good
for it, and the Scripture cannot be broken." What
does He say to the Sadducces, in the narrative of
the rich man and Lazarus ? " They have Moses
and the prophets. Let them hear them." What
is the hearing ? " It is written." It is God's Word
written. Therefore let them hear them. " Have
you not read what God said ? " Therefore God's
Word is to be read.

But not merely this. Our blessed Saviour found
in the Scripture His own portrait. When He preached
in the synagogue of Nazareth He opened the book
of the prophet Isaiah, and said, " The Scripture is
fulfilled to-day in your hearing." When He showed
mercy to the publicans and sinners. He described His
own mind by that which was written, " I will have
mercy, and not sacrifice." His whole work. His
whole suffering. His whole death. His whole resurrec-
tion, He found in what was written. The Scripture
must be fulfilled. All that is written concerning
Him has now an end. Was it not Word of God to
Jesus ? Was it not the portraiture of Christ Himself?
Was not it the revelation of God's secret counsel
and will concerning our salvation ? When Jesus
argues with Satan, He says, " It is written." When
Jesus prays to the Father He says, " The son of
perdition is lost, that the Scripture may be fulfilled " ;

ELEMENTS TO THE DIVINE 59

and when He authorises the disciples, and prepares
th6m for their apostoHc mission, He tells them that
He entered through sufferings into glory, because it
was so written. As it was written, so it happened ;
and as it is written, and as it happened, so it must
be preached unto the world. So the testimony of
Jesus concerning the whole Scripture is that it is
the Word of God.

To say, " The l^ible contains the Word of God,"
instead of saying, " The Bible is the Word of God,"
is inadequate and misleading. Everything that is
in Scripture would authenticate itself to us as Word
of God, if we understood it in its right connection
with the centre ; but we must not say merely that
the Scripture contains the Word of God ; and we
had better not say it at all, because, in the first place,
what else does Scripture contain besides the Word of
God ? Nothing is in Scripture that does not belong
to it, and nothing is outside of Scripture that ought
to be introduced into it. It is perfectly true that
there are some parts of Scripture more vital, more
noble than others, like the book of Genesis, which is
like the head, like the gospel of John, which is like
the heart ; but as the apostle explains to us in his
splendid comparison of the body with the Church,
all the members are members of the body, according
to their various positions, importance, and significance.
Life goes through them all, and it is not for us to
separate anything that belongs to the living and
sacred body of Scripture. And if Scripture only
contains Scripture, who is to judge what is Word of
God, and what is not Word of God ? There are
many things in the Scripture which perhaps are not
interesting to this one or to that one ; but Scripture

6o RELATION OF THE HUMAN, HISTORICAL, ETC.,

is not given for an individual, but for the whole
Church ; not for the Church of one age, but for the
Church of all ages. There are many people who
take no interest in the Jews, but God takes the most
intense and everlasting interest in the Jews, — and that
of itself will place a very large portion of Scripture
in another light.

Is our Christian consciousness what men have
called the " verifying faculty " to be set up, as a
judge, over the disclosures which are to be found
in the Scriptures ? Is the very creation of the
Scripture, the very child which owes its existence
to the teaching of Scripture, to assume the position
of a superior ? When I read the Bible am I to hear
the voice at every page, " Hath God indeed said this ?
Hath God indeed said this ? Is this merely contained
in the Word of God, or is it Word of God ? " It is
said that Scripture is the rule of faith. So the Church
of England, so the Church of Scotland, so every
Protestant evangelical Church, has declared that
nothing is to be demanded of God's people to believe
and obey, unless it be founded on the Word of God.
Scripture is the rule of faith, but who is to rule the
rule, or to correct the rule ? Scripture could never
be the rule of faith unless it was the foundation of
faith and the source of faith. " Faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing cometh by the Word of God."
And where does the Word of God come from, but
from God Himself? And so let us believe it as it is
declared to us in the epistle to the Hebrews, " At
sundry times and in divers manners, unto the fathers
by the prophets," but in them all, and through them
all, God spake.

I hope to finish what I have to remark on this

ELEMENTS TO THE DIVINE 6i

subject, especially about the New Testament, and the
work of the Holy Ghost in the formation of Scripture.
The subject of my next lecture will be the certainty
which believers have concerning Scripture and the
testimony to it of Christ.

IV

THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CONSIDERED—
AND DECISIVE

The testimony of Jesus Christ to the Old Testament Scriptures decisive —
The relation in which Jesus stands to the New Testament — Misre-
presentations of the Rationalists — They undermine the authority of
Christ in order to shake His testimony — Assertion that His human
knowledge limited — The searcher of hearts (God's prerogative) when
on earth — No Socinians ever dared to say what is now said — The
Holy Spirit not to reveal any other thing than Jesus had revealed,
but to bring to remembrance — In the Sermon on the Mount
Jesus speaks as the Son of God — His attestations to Moses and the
prophets after the resurrection — This the foundation of the claims
of Christianity made by the apostles — ^Jesus Christ is Jehovah — This
shown from numerous passages — Weak assertions of recent times —
Advanced preaching — The Spirit, acting through the Scriptures,
effects conversion — The Bible never to be separated from Christ
the Living Word — Sceptics not to be dreaded, — but the false,
compromising, conciliatory modern teaching in our churches — The
enemy will advise to put the sword into the sheath. The sword
not to be defended but unsheathed.

The subjects to-day are : the testimony of Jesus
Christ concerning the Old Testament Scriptures
decisive ; the relation in which Jesus stands to the
New Testament ; the Spirit of God and His relation
to the Scripture.

It is most important that all Christians should
be fully convinced in their own minds that the testi-
mony which Jesus bears concerning Moses and the

THE TESTIMONY OE JESUS CONSIDERED 63

prophets is decisive. It leaves not a vestige of
doubt in the mind of any one who acknowledges that
Jesus is the Son of God. It gives us a perfect and
incontrovertible conviction that the Scriptures of the
Old Testament are the Word of God. Many doubts,
many objections, have been brought against this
view, and I can only remind you in a few words of
the tactics of the rationalists who do not believe in
the divinity of Christ, who attempt to show that
our Saviour accommodated Himself to the prejudices
of His contemporaries, and that, — although He Him-
self did not believe in the inspiration of the Old
Testament, or in the existence of Satan, or in those
who were possessed of devils as really possessed by
them, — still adapting Himself to the ignorance and
weakness of the Jews, and wishing to lead them, as
it were, into a higher and nobler sphere of thought.
He argued with them from the things which they
admitted. Thus a course of action is suggested
unworthy of the character of an honest man, un-
worthy of the dignity of a prophet, blasphemous as
applied to Jesus, who is God over all blessed for
ever. Jesus who never for a single moment accom-
modated Himself to the prejudices of the Pharisees
and scribes, who with all the energy of His character
protested against the traditions of the elders, who
not merely in secret, but in the presence of all
people, declared that every plant which His Heavenly
Father had not planted, however venerable and pious
it might seem, must be rooted up, — how could He
for a single moment teach what He knew to be
untrue ?

Another explanation has been attempted. It
has been stated, and that in the most recent times.

64 THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CONSIDERED —

that when the Son of God emptied Himself, and laid
aside the glory of His divine state of existence, and
became man, His human knowledge became limited,
and that this limitation must be taken into account
when we consider His declarations about Moses and
the prophets. A few sentences will suffice to show
that this whole mysterious subject, of the self-limita-
tion of the Son of God in becoming man, does not
in any manner touch the subject that is before us.

Let me remind you of the facts that are brought
before us in the gospels, which show the range of
Christ's vision as man upon earth. He saw into the
depths of Nathanael's heart when Nathanael was
under the fig-tree, He saw into the depths of the sea
and beheld the coin in the mouth of the fish. He
read the whole past life of the woman of Samaria,
whom He had never seen before during His earthly
pilgrimage. He knew that Judas was going to betray
Him. He saw the man waiting on the road with
the ass and the foal of the ass, and the other man
who had prepared the guest chamber for Him to
eat the passover with His disciples. Many more
instances I might quote, but what I wish to bring
before you is this— that Jesus, when He was on
earth, was the Searcher of Hearts. This is God's
prerogative. " / only search the heart." Jesus knew
what was in man and did not require any one to tell
Him. Secondly, He saw the whole invisible realm
of angels and of devils. " I beheld Satan fall like
lightning from heaven." " Satan hath desired to
have thee, that he may sift thee as wheat." And in
all the possessed — and possessed they were as surely
as we have a gospel record — the Lord Jesus Christ
saw the powers of the evil one. But more than that,

AND DECISIVE 65

Jesus saw the Father. Jesus said, " No man knoweth
the . Father but the Son." He who saw the depths
of the human heart— He who saw the whole of the
invisible world of spirits — He who knew God
absolutely, — He it is who says unto us, " The Scrip-
ture cannot be broken."

I wish to establish this point still more firmly.
Let us look, then, upon Jesus as a prophet. None
of the old Socinians would ever have dared or wished
to say the things, that are now said by people who
are in evangelical churches. Much mistaken as they
were about the person of Christ, they all held clearly
that He was the truth, that He was the Light of the
World, that He was the perfect prophet whose testi-
mony is to be received implicitly.

Let us first look upon Jesus merely as a prophet.
What is a prophet according to the Old Testament?
A man who runs not, before he is sent, who is sent
by God, who is entrusted with a divine message, who
delivers not his own thoughts, but the things which
God has committed unto him ; who preaches
repentance, and at the same time preaches the
coming of the Messiah, even of Jehovah Himself in
His glory. Such a prophet was Jesus, sent by the
Father in the fulness of the Holy Ghost, preaching
repentance and the advent of the kingdom of God.
But all the Old Testament prophets were only
precursors of the real prophet that was promised,
and therefore the great promise given unto the
people by God through Moses is this : " A prophet
like unto thee I will raise up unto them from among
thy brethren." And what was then the resemblance
of the prophet that was to come to Moses ? As the
first Adam points to the Lord from heaven, so Moses

F

66 THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CONSIDERED—

points to Christ. God spoke with Moses face to
face. Moses was not merely a prophet, but he was
the mediator, and he was faithful in all God's house ;
and thus, after all the prophets that God sent unto
Israel, there was to come at last a prophet like unto
Moses at the beginning of the new dispensation —
the mediator between God and the people who
should speak to God face to face. And this promise
which God gave through Moses was afterwards
expanded, in the subsequent prophets. Let me
remind you of the features of the prophet which was
to come. He was to know the whole mind of God.
He was to possess the Spirit in His sevenfold
plenitude. He was to be entrusted with the whole
message of God, and not merely with fragments.
But more than that. He was Himself to be the
fulfilment of the promise ; for not merely was He to
be a prophet, raised up from among His brethren,
but He was also to come down from heaven, and in
Him the fulness of divine light and divine life was
to be manifested upon earth. Such a one was
Jesus.

Other prophets were not always in the Spirit.
The Spirit came upon them from time to time : but
Jesus, every moment of His existence and in every
utterance that proceeded from Him, was filled with
the Holy Ghost. He said, " My doctrine is not
mine but my Father's who sent me. All I have
heard of the Father, I have given unto you. I
speak not of myself, but whatsoever I see the Father
do, I do likewise." Therefore this blessed Jesus,
always in communion with the Father, always re-
ceiving from the Father the words which He was to
give unto the people, and always in communion with

AND DECISIVE 67

the Holy Ghost, is that perfect prophet who speaks
nothing but what is in accordance with the divine
mind and the divine will.

But to show this still more emphatically, Jesus
was not able to tell the disciples everything because
they could not have borne it. Therefore the Holy
Ghost was to come afterwards, — but that Holy Ghost
was not to reveal any other thing than that which
Jesus had revealed. " He shall bring to your remem-
brance the words that I have spoken unto you." He
was only to show in fuller light and development what
Jesus had already taught. If, then, the words of
Jesus are fallible, we have no infallible God — neither
Father nor Holy Ghost. When Jesus was on the
Mount of Transfiguration, there were Moses and
Elijah as the representatives of the Old Testament
history, but they disappeared. God the Father from
the excellent glory spake and said, " This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; " but he
added something that he had not said on the day of
Christ's baptism, for then the prophetic office of
Christ was only beginning — now it had come to its
conclusion — " Hear him." God visible is Jesus.
God audible is Jesus. This is that prophet like
unto Moses and greater than Moses of whom God
the Father says, " He is my representative and my
mouth. Whatever he speaks unto you, believe and
accept."

Were I to stop here, I think I would have proved
my point, but I cannot do so, because I believe that
Jesus is the Son of God. We can never understand
the relation of the divinity, in its omniscience and
omnipotence, unto Jesus of Nazareth. Whether it
was in abeyance, or whatever theory we may form

68 THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CONSIDERED —

on this mysterious subject, has nothing to do with
what is revealed to us in the gospels. As it is with
the omnipotence of Christ, so it is with the omni-
science. Christ performed His miracles by faith in
the Father. Christ, every evening that He went to
His rest, commended Himself to the Father. Christ
was true man. His prayers were reality. Therefore
the glory of His miracles Christ afterwards attributed
to the Father, and when He raised Lazarus He
ascribed this to the Father and thanked the Father
who always heard Him. But not like any other
prophet, relying upon the omnipotence of God, did
Jesus perform miracles, but by His own omnipotence.
How did He raise Lazarus from the dead ? "I am
the resurrection and the life." In Him there was
the resurrection power — and to raise the dead im-
plies omnipotence. And thus also it is with the
omniscience of Jesus. It is true that Jesus says of
that hour when the Father shall send again the Son,
He knoweth not. Here there was a limitation of
knowledge, but Jesus knew that He did not know it,
and said that this was kept from Him during that
time, throwing all the more light on all the other
declarations that He made. As He says to Nico-
demus, " We know that we speak." " The Son of
Man who is in heaven is the only one who, having
come down from heaven, shall ascend again." " I
am the truth," He says ; and like God Himself, He
says, " Verily, verily, I say unto you."

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks as a
prophet, but He speaks as the Son of God — as God
manifest in the flesh. " Verily, verily, I say unto
you." He contrasts Himself with the Jehovah of the
Old Testament, and if I may use that expression He

AND DECISIVE 69

shows that Jehovah is now reveahng Himself in a
more glorious manner than He did before. When
Jesus as a prophet speaks of the last day, how does
He speak ? " Many shall say unto me ; and / shall
say unto them ' depart from me.' " Therefore Jesus
in His humanity beholds Himself as the judge of the
quick and the dead. The secrets of the future are
before Him. And when He privately instructs His
disciples about the destruction of Jerusalem and the
second advent, He refers to the prophet Daniel ; but
He says, " When the Son of Man shall come in his
glory."

Another point — for there is not a single loophole
of escape. When Jesus rose again from the dead
where was then the limitation of His human know-
ledge, why did He lead back His disciples, on all the
occasions when He appeared unto them, to Moses
and the prophets, as if this was the only way in
which He could reveal Himself and manifest Himself
to the children of men ? " Ought not the Christ
to have passed through sufferings unto glory ? "
" And beginning with Moses and the prophets, he
expounded unto them all the things concerning
himself" And this was His last commission— that
they must preach as it was written and as it was
fulfilled. No, my beloved friends, whatever stage of
conviction you may be in now, and whatever influ-
ences may surround you, examine the question, test
it, search it, sift it ; this is my testimony — that as
true as God the Father is the Father of all truth,
and the Spirit of God is the Spirit of truth, and
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, so true is the
testimony of Jesus concerning Moses and the
prophets — the whole Old Testament scripture as

70 THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CONSIDERED —

it was embodied in that book which the Jews called
Scripture, — that it is infallible, that it is authoritative,
that it reveals Himself in all His glorious person and
in the perfections of His work.

And so did the apostles preach. Where have
you got your Christianity from ? Who has converted
you, pagans, into worshippers of God and Christ ?
Have you not derived everything from the apostles ?
Are you not built upon the foundation of the
apostles ? And how did the apostles preach ?
" That Christ died according to the Scriptures."
Not a single syllable of the New Testament was
written then. And they preached that Christ rose
again, " According to the Scriptures." And when
people came to believe in Jesus how did the apostles
teach them ? They taught them from Daniel about
the man of sin, the Antichrist that was to come.
They taught them from the history of the Jews in
the wilderness, that all these things had happened to
us for an example. They referred them to the whole
of prophecy that had gone before, saying that by the
consolation which the Scriptures give us, and by
patiently waiting for the fulfilment of the Scripture,
we should have the hope, namely, of Christ's second
advent. By Scripture they instructed the unbelievers ;
by Scripture they instructed those who had already
become Christians, and the apostle Peter, shortly
before he laid aside his tabernacle and finished
his course, knowing the great errors and the false
prophets which were already beginning their pernici-
ous work, reminded the Christians of the testimony
of the transfiguration of Christ — reminded them also
of the sure word of prophecy. To this they were to
attend ; by this they were to be cheered ; and by

AND DECISIVE

this they were to be defended against all the assaults
of the wicked One. And the apostle Paul, when he
had reached the end of his earthly journey, and
after he had declared to Timothy that perilous times
were coming, had only one counsel to give him :
" From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation
through faith which is in Christ Jesus." " All Scrip-
ture is given by inspiration of God."

But I must come now to the New Testament.
Jesus Christ is Jehovah. Only Jehovah can say " I,
even I, am he that forgiveth thy sins." Jesus says
" Be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee." Only
Jehovah can say " They have forsaken me, the
fountain of living water." Jesus says " If any man
thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." Only
Jehovah can say " As a bridegroom rejoiceth over
his bride, so will I rejoice, O Zion, over thee."
Jesus says " I am the bridegroom, and how can the
children of the bridechamber fast while I am with
them ? " Only Jehovah can say " Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart ; " and Jesus
says " If any man loves father or mother or wife or
child more than me, he is not worthy of me." Who
is Jesus ? He is Jehovah, and Jehovah promised that
He would come, and Jehovah has come according to
His promise. Because Jesus is Jehovah, He is the
centre to gather Israel. " How often would I have
gathered thy children together." Could any prophet
ever have said that, or any angel ? Could the angel
Michael come down and say " Israel, come to me " .?
Jesus is the centre of Israel. Jesus says " I will
build my Church " — " uiy Church." The ccclesia
belongs only to Jehovah. When Jesus says to Peter

72 THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CONSIDERED —

" Feed my sheep," how are they His sheep, unless He
be Jehovah who is the shepherd of the flock ? There-
fore said Jesus to Jerusalem when He foretold the
destruction of that city, " Behold, I sent unto you
prophets and wise men and scribes." Who sent the
Old Testament prophets ? Jehovah^ and if a man
was not sent by'^JeTTovah he was a false prophet.
Who sends the apostles ? Jesus, who is Jehovah.
I And what is the authority that Jesus gives to the
' apostles ? " He that heareth you heareth me."
■ Notice that. Not " As it were me." He that heareth
'you heareth me. And therefore it is that Jesus pro-
mised to the apostles the Spirit that was to lead them
into all truth. Jesus did not say " I have been three
years with Peter and James and John and Philip
and Thomas. They love me ; they believe in me.
They are loyal men. They remember what I have
told them ; I rely now upon them to spread Christian-
ity." That is what you read in these silly boastful
nineteenth -century books ; but no. Jesus knew
that without the Holy Ghost, and without His special
presence and authority, the apostles were altogether
unable for the high task which He had assigned to
them. And therefore are the writings of the evangel-
ists and of the apostles the very words of Jesus, the
teaching of Jesus. We are built upon the foundation
of the apostles. They require no successors, because,
up to this very day, they are in the midst of us and
teach us. And, like the disciples in the days of the
first Pentecost, we continue steadfastly in the teach-
ing of the apostles, which is none other than the
teaching of Jesus.

Therefore the apostle Paul in the epistle to the
Romans, in a passage which is very little considered,

AND DECISIVE 73

says that the mystery which had been hidden for
ages was made known unto all nations by the pro-
phetical writings, in which He does not refer to the
Old Testament prophets, but to Himself and to the
other writers of the New Testament. And these
writings of the apostles have this peculiar character-
istic. All is in them more fully revealed than in
the Old Testament, and yet God uses more the
individuality of the writer than He ever did before.
And therefore all the New Testament writings with
a {q.\\ exceptions are in the form of letters — the
personal testimony and experience of the apostles,
and yet the very Word of God and revelation of
Jesus Christ.

Now to sum up, Jesus says : If you believe
Moses, ipso facto you believe Me. If you do not
believe the writings of Moses, of course you do not
believe My sayings. Moses wrote of Me. Each
word is weighty. Moses himself wrote — committed
to writing — and Jesus is the sum and substance of J
what he wrote! ThaTls7"He fs the foundation of the/
vvlToTeTiistory of the Old Testament and of its pro-
phetic teaching. And not merely this passage or that
l)assage, but the whole collection of books as they
were among the Jews, is the Scripture which cannot
be broken and in which Christ Himself is delineated.

Now I come to the next point — the relation of
the Spirit of God to the Scripture. There are many
people who ask questions about the inspiration of
Scripture to whom the best answer would be this :
" Have you received the Holy Ghost ? Is there any-
thing that you believe because the Holy Ghost has
taught you ? Do you know that a man cannot
believe in Jesus, unless the Holy Ghost teaches him

74 THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CONSIDERED —

and enables him ? What do you know about the
Holy Ghost at all, that you ask this question whether
the Scripture is inspired ? " Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, — one God. The Father gives ; the Son is the
channel ; the Holy Ghost imparts. The grace of
the Lord Jesus, the love of the Father, come to us in
the communion of the Holy Ghost. God the Father
created. By the Word He created, and the Spirit of
God moved upon the face of the waters. The Father
sent Jesus ; Jesus came of His own accord ; and by
the Holy Ghost was He conceived in the womb of
the Virgin Mary.

Jesus died. The Father gave Him up to death,
and by the everlasting Spirit He gave Himself as a
sacrifice for our sins. The Father can do nothing
except by Jesus, and through the Spirit. Christ can
do nothing except by the Father and by the power
of the Spirit. The Spirit knows nothing, says nothing,
does nothing, but according to the Father's will, and
through and in Christ Jesus. And so every man
that has been converted says, as that little boy said
to Mr. M'Cheyne, when he was dying, " I love the
Father who loved me and gave Jesus to die for me.
I love Jesus who shed His precious blood for me ;
and I love the Holy Ghost who made me know the
love of the Father and the love of the Son."

Now, with people who know this it is possible to
speak. What is the use of speaking to the others
on this point ? Oh yes, on many other points, but
not on this point. As Scripture is the whole counsel
of God unto salvation, — as Scripture is the perfect
Dor-traitureof Christ, both in His first and His second
advent, so Scripture could not have come into exist-
ence without the Holy Ghost. I say to the people

AND DECISIVE 75

every Sunday : " Let us read the Word of God " ;
and then I say " The 1 9th Psalm of David." What
is the connecting link ? The Spirit spake by David.
The Spirit speaks. What the Spirit spoke by the
mouth of David had to be fulfilled in the history of
Jesus. The Spirit speaks and testifies. " Your sins I
will remember no more." " Holy men spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost." What is that
moving of the Holy Ghost ? It is a very strange
thing that even the heathen poets, when they had
some great subject that they wished to describe,
invoked the muse. As Homer says, " Tell me, O
muse, the man in all his wanderings " — speaking of
Ulysses. Or, " O goddess, I wish to sing the wrath
of the son of Peleus, Achilles," — feeling that the
human spirit, as it were, was not sufficient to describe
things worthy of their grandeur. The prophets
spake, not by their own imagination, nor by their
own impulse, as I showed to you before. They
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,
carried along by the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost
bearing them along, not destroying their individuality,
but upholding them continually. So does the
apostle Paul say that all Scripture is God-spirited,
breathed by the Spirit of God. What a wonderful
truth is revealed to us here ! We are not able to
understand it. We are not able to describe
how it is that the Spirit of God worked in
these men. We know one thing — that they them-
selves did not fully understand what they wrote,
" teaching diligently what the Spirit that was in
them did signify " ; and we know that all the narra-
tives which are contained in the Old Testament
could not have been fully understood at the time,

76 THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CONSIDERED—

because they are for our instruction, upon whom the
latter days have come. Yet this is the truth — that
they themselves, men of God, holy men, wrote as
they were moved by the Spirit of God.

And if this is true, let me note, in passing, one
of the peculiarities of the present day — what is
called " advanced " preaching. " Advanced " preach-
ing means this — to make Moses and the prophets
say as little as possible, and, if possible, no more
than we could know without them ; and the great
question is always, " Oh, you think this Psalm refers
to Christ ? How could David know this ? David
could not have an understanding of this. We must
remember the time of David, the circumstances of
David." Oh yes, there is a different exposition of
Scripture which is not Scripture itself The New
Testament exposition of the Old Testament is the
only true exposition, for it explains not merely what
David and the prophets could understand and tried
to understand, but what the Holy Ghost understood,
and deposited with them, distinctly, in this way.
Supposing that there is a little plant before me. I
can examine it. But supposing that I have a
powerful microscope. I look at it, and now I can
see a number of things which before were entirely
non-existent to me. Have I put anything into that
plant that was not there before ? Have I changed
the plant. Have I introduced my pet ideas into
that plant. So, when we read Leviticus with the
light of the epistle to the Hebrews ; when we read
the whole Old Testament with the light of the
evangelists and the epistles, that is exposition, not
imposition. We do not put anything into it. The
Holy Spirit enlarges our vision to see what is there.

AND DECISIVE 77

There are many questions in connection with this to
be answered and difficulties to be solved ; but I do
not enter into these. I have shown you what the
Word of God, as the basis of the doctrines which
are essential and vital, teaches us ; and any one of
you who believes in God the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, and in Jesus Christ, that He is both the Son
of Mary and the Son of the Most High, must neces-
sarily grant what I have said. Upon such broad
basis let the thing rest at first, because it is for all
Christian people.

And now I pass on to the last point. How am
I sure that the Scripture is the Word of God ? Oh !
people are so anxious nowadays. This man will
not believe in the miracle of Jonah, and this man
will not believe in the extermination of the Canaan-
ites being by God's commandment, and another
cannot believe the Psalms, because David speaks of
the vengeance which is to overtake God's enemies.
This thing arises, that thing, this difficulty, that diffi-
culty, all little isolated fragments and bits ; they do
not regard the whole. We may go on arguing in this
way for thousands of years and not bring a person
any nearer to the truth. This Bible is not a book
in the way in which there arc other books. God
the living one is testified of there. Worship not the
book. Never think of the Bible as separate from
God the Father and Jesus the Saviour, and the
agency and work of the Holy Ghost. We are sure
that Scripture is the Word of God, because the
Spirit of God testifies of it as the only ground of
our absolute certainty. There are many arguments,
there are many evidences, there are many things to
predispose you to listen to the Scripture. As I

78 THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CONSIDERED—

have already pointed out, the sublimity of its
doctrine, the beauty and attractiveness of its lan-
guage, the grandeur of its commands, the unity of
all its component parts, the power which it has
exerted in the world and in the Church — all these
things are difficult to gainsay. There is enough
evidence to make every person guilty in the sight
of God who does not acknowledge the Scripture ;
but tell me how you are sure that Jesus is the
Son of God, or that Jesus died for your sin, or that
you are a child of God ? It is the Spirit that wit-
nesses, and the Spirit is truth.

And all Christians and all Christian ministers
ought to have the fulness of conviction that the
Spirit is truth. There are certain portions of
Scripture in which, as it were, you are not at home.
You have not felt their power. But other people
have felt their power. Some generations of the
Church of Christ are led into one portion of God's
Word and some into another. The Scripture beareth
witness unto the whole Church of Christ — the Spirit,
with the Scripture, is truth, for as is the Holy Ghost
so is the Scripture. The object of the Holy Ghost
is to glorify Christ. The object of the Scripture is
to glorify Christ. The method of the Holy Ghost
is to convince, to save, to comfort with the assurance
of God's favour, to enlighten, instruct, warn, guide,
cleanse, establish those that come to Christ. The
object of the Scripture is to be profitable for
doctrine, for correction, for instruction in righteous-
ness, that the man of God may be perfect, furnished
thoroughly unto every good work. As is the Scrip-
ture, so is the Spirit — one aim, one method. The
two go together. The power of the Bible when the

AND DECISIVE 79

Holy Ghost is with it is the power of the Word of
God. Oh, how many there have been opposed to
God, but the Word of God has been to them Hke
tlie hammer that breaks in pieces the rock. Oh,
how many there have been in sadness when they
heard the voice, " Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
A poor man, as he was led to the scaffold because
he had committed murder, on being asked whether
he was afraid to die, gave this answer — " I rely on
one verse of Scripture, ' God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son,' when I heard this
I saw the arms of God wide open, ' that whosoever
believeth in him shall not perish, but have eternal
life.' When I read this I felt the arms tightly close
in upon me, and I am saved." Do you remember
how Martin Luther by the reading of the Psalms,
by the reading of the epistle to the Galatians, by
the reading of the epistle to the Romans was, out
of the depth of despair, transplanted into a heaven
of thanksgiving and jubilation ? What was it that
was the instrument of the conversion of Augustine
but that, opening the Scriptures, he saw the verse in
the 13 th chapter of Romans which called him to rise
out of darkness and out of night. How many Jews
have been converted simply by the reading of the 5 3rd
chapter of the prophet Isaiah — as Luther calls it, the
clearest gospel in all the Bible — and after a man has
been converted, is there anything else in the whole
world, are there any sermons, are there any words of
God's witnesses that can feed him, that can strengthen
him, that can encourage him, that can rebuke him,
and that can give him light and assurance in the
hour of death ? God has taken s^reat care in the

8o THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CONSIDERED —

Bible that we should know what the Bible is.
There are many passages in Scripture describing
the excellence of Scripture. Such a passage is the
1 1 6th Psalm. There are no vain repetitions.
There is always something fresh and something
new. And what is the testimony concerning the
Word of God ? Here is a picture of all life. We
see the young man who has a great ideal of perfec-
tion before him. We see a man who is in affliction
and in sorrow, and we see a man who is despised
and mocked by the people around him. We see a
man who is surrounded by adversaries and by
enemies who are continually wresting his words.
We see a man who is often disheartened, whose
soul is cleaving to the dust, but in every circum-
stance of life it is the Word of God to which he
looks, not to the maxims which prevail among
Israel, not to the traditions of men as preached
among them, not to the ideas that are held by the
people with whom he is associated, but to God's
Word only. God speaks to him, and this Word of
God is all-sufficient to him. He knows of no other
piety, he knows of no other devoutness, he knows of
no other diligence in God's service, he knows of no
other carefulness to do the thing which is right
apart from the Word of God, for " all Scripture is
given by inspiration of God, and therefore it is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness, that the man of God
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every
good work." The Holy Ghost accompanies the
Word, and the power of the Holy Ghost is in the
Word. Be not deceived, the Word of God in Jli.e
hiehest sense means the Son of God. He is the

AND DECISIVE 8i

Word. Word of God in the sense next to that
means the Gospel message, " And this is the Word
which by the Gospel is preached unto you." And
the Bible never for a single moment should be
separated from Christ, the living Word, and from
the message of God, which is the treasure of the
Word ; — and the work and agency of the Holy Ghost
is the embodiment and incorporation of that Word.

Separate it is from all other books. As Augustine
says of the Bible, " What is the Bible else but a letter
of God Almighty addressed to His creatures, in which
letter we hear the voice of God, and behold the heart
of our heavenly Father ? " Be established in the
truth.

The Bible needs no defence. The Bible defends
itself; the Bible explains itself I do not dread the
pagans, I do not dread the infidels, I do not dread
sceptics. I dread the false, compromising and con-
ciliatory modern teaching in our Churches. That is
the only thing that is to be dreaded. Let the Bible
only be kept separate. As it is, it needs no defence.
Britannia needs no bulwarks, and why? Because God
has separated her by the sea. That is her strength
and her defence. The Scripture needs no bulwarks.
The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, and
who ever heard of defending a sword ? It is the /
enemy who will advise you to put the sword into
the sheath — a beautiful sheath with all kinds of meta-
physical and artistic ornamentations. The sword
must be unsheathed, for the sword is aggressive.
Oh that we may know the Scripture not merely as
the sword of the Spirit, for that sword, although it
may inflict pain, is meant for healing. Oh that we
may know it as the gentle dew and rain that comes

G

82 THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CONSIDERED

down from heaven and returneth not thither, but
prospercth in the things which please God. My
wish for each one of you, and for myself, is this —
that when the time comes that we must part even
from this dear book we may be able to say. This
has been God's message to me in the Scripture. " I
have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore
with lovincf kindness have I drawn thee." Amen.

V

THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES

The Jews the custodians of the Old Testament Scriptures, and witnesses
to the truth of BiMe history and prophecy — This shown in the
epistle to the Romans by the Apostle Paul — To them were com-
mitted the oracles of God — These oracles refer largely to the Jews —
They were all written by Jews — All other religions can be accounted
for by the cliaracter of the nations among whom prevalent — Not so
the religion of the Jews — It found them stubborn, and hostile to it —
Absurdity of the fanciful theories as to the books of Moses having
been fabricated after the Exile, when these books so condemn the
Jews themselves — Pascal on this subject — Particular instructions as
to the Mosaic records, etc. — The roll of the book in Josiah's days —
Imputation of dishonesty — Parallel with the Bible in the Middle
Ages — The Jews had never any doubt about these books — These
books selected out of a large literature — Apocrypha never pretends to
be Scripture, but shows reverence to all the Scriptures — Bibliolatry
of the post- Babylonian period — The letter without the Spirit — The
position of the Jews for the last 1800 years — Not hopelessly fallen
— The great future before them — The Apostle Paul's triumphal
arch.

The subject this morning is the following : The
Jews the custodians of the Old Testament Scrip-
tures, and witnesses to the truth of Bible history
and prophecy.

You remember that in the epistle to the Romans,
which is the most comprehensive and systematic
exposition of the gospel of Christ which the apostle
Paul preached for the obedience of faith among all

84 THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES

the nations of the world, the question is asked by
the apostle, " What advantage, then, hath the Jew ? "
He had proved in the previous chapters that both
Jews and Gentiles were guilty before God, and that
the Jew having received far greater privileges was
under greater condemnation ; and now the question
at the very outset of the epistle bursts forth, " What
advantage, then, hath the Jew ? " And the answer
which he gives is in every respect instructive and
striking : " Much, every way, but chiefly that unto
them were committed the oracles of God " ; — a very
important expression which the apostle uses with
regard to all the communications which God had
made to Israel ; — the revelations which He had given
to them, and which He had afterwards caused to be
written and to be transmitted to future generations.
He uses the very strongest expression to convince us
that these are the very words of God, authoritative
and everlasting. And he also used another expres-
sion, which is very striking — that these oracles, as
the very Word itself also teaches us, came down from
heaven, and that they were merely entrusted to the
guardianship of Israel. The Israelites did not pro-
duce them. They only received them. And the
third thing he shows in these short words is that in
this consisted the sum and substance of all their
privileges and advantages — that these holy Scrip-
tures, if they are received by faith and by the bless-
ing of the Holy Ghost, are the summary of all the
blessings and privileges which it is the purpose of
God to bestow upon His chosen ones.

From the very outset let me remind you of this
fact, which all of you who are familiar with Scripture
must have often considered — that with the exception

THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES 85

of the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis,
the book of Job, the book of Proverbs, and the book
of Ecclesiastes, the rest of the Old Testament is
occupied entirely with the Jews, — God's deaUngs with
them, their experiences, the promises which were
made to them. Tlie whole Old Testament, with the
exception of the very few sections which I have
enumerated, deals. exclusively with the Jews. When
we come to the books of the New Covenant we find
that the four gospels have to do exclusively with the
Jews, and with the manifestation of Jehovah in the
person of Jesus in the midst of them. The book of
Acts, in the first chapters, has to do exclusively with
the Jews when the Gospel was first preached in
Jerusalem and in Judaea. And afterwards, although
it goes to the Gentiles, yet never for a single mo-
ment does it leave out of sight Israel, and the very
concluding chapter of the book of Acts shows us the
apostle Paul in Ronie testifying to the Jews that he
alleged none other things than those which Moses
and the prophets had testified. And even in the
epistles we never lose sight of the Jews, for as I
have already referred to the epistle to the Romans,
I beg you to notice the significance and importance
of this instance. Here, if anywhere, you might have
expected that the apostle Paul, speaking to the
whole world before the dispensation of the times of
the Gentiles, would leave out of sight Israel, and
that if he did produce Israel it would only be as a
preparation, as a scaffolding that was to be removed
as soon as the building could be exhibited. But in
this world-wide epistle, in this, the epistle of the
Gentiles, the apostle devotes three chapters to the
subject of the Jews, for it was an integral part of

86 THE JEWS —AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES

the whole counsel of God which he had to give to
the Church, and his great anxiety was lest the Gen-
tile Church should be ignorant concerning this mys-
tery. And therefore we find that in the book of the
Apocalypse we return again to the Jews. So all
Scripture brings before you the Jews embodied in
everything that is important and essential for our
salvation, connected with the holy purposes of God
which have not yet been fully realised. And this
fact alone shows to us that an exposition of Scrip-
ture in which the Jews do not form an integral part
is not a correct transcript of the mind of the Spirit.
It is perfectly true that everything that happened to
the Jews was typical and illustrative of their spiritual
truths and experiences — and for your edification that
through their examples and encouragements you
might be helped upon your way heavenward, but the
symbolical and typical character of that history does
not in the slightest degree interfere with the actual
historical reality of it, and with its being the begin-
ning of the future which is yet before us. You are
perfectly right, dear Gentile Christians, when you
apply to yourselves all the promises that God gave to
His people Israel, that He would never leave them
or forsake them, and that, through all their chastise-
ments. He would bring them in safety and give them
glory. But only think for a moment that if God
did not keep these promises to the people, to whom
He had given them in the first instance, what encour-
agement would there be for you to believe that He
would keep them to you who, only by inference, are
able to take them unto yourselves.

And the second point about the Scriptures is this.
These oracles of God refer to such a larcre extent to

THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES 87

the Jews that they were all written by Jews.
Pharaoh had a dream. Joseph alone could interpret
it. Nebuchadnezzar had a vision. Daniel alone
could interpret it. Israel is the prophetic nation
chosen by God for that purpose, and therefore all
the writers of Scripture, not even Luke, the beloved
physician, excepted, bclonijed to the chosen people.
" What advantage, then, hath the Jew ? " Much,
every way, chiefly because unto them were com-
mitted the oracles of God.

But think not that I am going to praise the
Jews. I only wish to glorify God, and I only
wish to show, that by sovereign election God
appointed them to be the recipients and the
vehicles of divine treasures. The oracles were
entrusted to them. Some modern writers have
tried to account for the peculiarity of the Old
Testament by the peculiarities of the Shemitic
race, and have taught us that there was some-
thing in the Shemitic race which peculiarly fitted
them to think of eternal, sublime, and great sub-
jects. The election of Shem was before the elec-
tion of Abraham, and if there were any peculiari-
ties in the Shemitic race, which in any way were in
accordance or in harmony with what was afterwards
to be entrusted to them, I know not. He who is
the Creator and the God of nature is also the
Redeemer, and if there were any such peculiarities,
this is not contrary to what is taught us in Scripture,
— but much better is it for us to look at facts and
not at speculations. Israel did not find God. God
found Israel. Monotheism made the Jews, the
Jews did not make it. This is the great peculiarity
of the Scriptures and of the Jewish nation — that in

88 THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES

them we find something entirely different from what
we see in other nations. There is an influence from
above. Yes, with regard to all other nations you
can account for their religion by their peculiarities.

In the Greeks, conscience was entirely subor-
dinated to the sense of the beautiful, as Ruskin
says, " The poets and the philosophers of Greece
made the religion of Greece." In the Romans, the
state was everything, and their whole religion had
only one purpose — very subservient to the strength
and interest of the commonwealth. In the east, in
India and Persia, religion was nothing but meta-
physical speculation of a pantheistic kind, clothed in
ceremonies and forms. It had no God ; it had no
eternity. As was the nation, so was the religion.
But we cannot say that as was Israel so was the
religion, because Israel's religion came down from
God.

And what did it find ? It found a stubborn and
a stiff-necked nation. Idolatry was in their heart,
as it is in the heart of all human beings. No sooner
had they been brought out of the land of Egypt
than they worshipped the golden calf. Centuries
after, when the apostasy of Israel came, there
was a calf again, " These be thy gods which
brought thee out of Egypt." In the wilderness, as
the prophet says, they sacrificed unto Remphan and
other gods. During the period of the Jews and of
the kings their tendency was continually to idolatry,
and the testimony of the prophets was against this
idolatrous inclination which manifested itself in two
ways — either that they worshipped other gods, or
that they worshipped Jehovah in a heathenish form
which God had forbidden.

THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES 89

How did Israel meet this religion then ? It was
only through the great and sad experiences of the
captivity, that the tendency to idolatry was driven
out of the nation. God entrusted the oracles to
Israel, and therefore Moses and the prophets wrote
by inspiration. They were not the product of their
age. They were not the exponents of their nation.
They were the exponents of the chosen among the
nation who had been taught by the Spirit of God,
and these chosen ones of the nation as well as the
prophets received all from above, from the Lord
God Most High.

Therefore is the Scripture such a wonderful book,
and therefore are all those fanciful theories, about
the books of Moses having been fabricated after the
exile, utterly void of common sense, — as will appear
still further from the next point. There is no other
nation on the face of the earth that could have been
induced to preserve books which so pictured their
unthankfulness, their constant apostasies, comparing
them with the other nations of the world and saying
in effect, " You are worse than any other nation — less '
loyal to me than the other nations are to their false
gods." If we read the five books of Moses from
beginning to end how do they furnish a continuous
picture of the wickedness and ingratitude of Israel ? 1
and so with the other historical books. What does
the prophet Isaiah say ? " We should have been
like Sodom and Gomorrah if the Lord had not
left a small remnant in the midst of us." And
what do all the prophets say to Israel ? " Be not as
your fathers." Where is the nation which would
have preserved for centuries such a record testifying
against themselves ? " There is nothing good in

90 THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES

Israel. Do not imagine that I have chosen you
because you are better than the other nations. It
was my sovereign love, and my love for Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob." That is the work of God's grace
in them. Had such a record been artificially made,
centuries upon centuries after the histories had taken
place, it would not have been received. What an
extraordinary thing it is that the Jews who killed
the prophets and stoned them that were sent unto'
them, did not dare to touch the written records of
their lives and all their testimonies, — nay, they
reverenced those records and they looked upon them
as the testimony sent to them by the Most High.
The lively oracles were entrusted to them. Pascal
says most truly as well as most pithily : " The
sincerity with which the Jews have preserved their
Scriptures is without parallel among the nations,
and has its root not in nature," for Pascal knew the
doctrine of election and of grace and saw that it was
God and God only who had so ordered it.

But let us look now at the Scriptures, for as I
have often said to you before, it is not merely the
words that were spoken ; it is not merely the events
that happened ; it is all these, selected and arranged
by the guidance of the Holy Ghost, and incorporated
in a book. Let me remind you briefly of how often
God commanded the things to be written. In the
book of Exodus after the victory of Amalek, Moses
was commanded to write it in the book, and in that
same book of Exodus he tells us that he wrote the
words that the Lord had spoken in the book. In
the book of Numbers we are told that he wrote the
wanderings of Israel in a book. In Deuteronomy
we are told that the future king was to keep the

THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES 91

book of the law and that he was to read and
meditate on it; and in that same book of Deuter-
onomy, when God gives a song to Moses for the
children of Israel, in which their whole future down
to the coming of the great Deliverer is described,
Moses was commanded to write it in the book. This
book was to be kept by the priest, and every seven
years it was to be read to the people. Joshua was
^o write his experiences in a book, adding it to the
books which already existed. So was Samuel
commanded to write, — and he laid it before the Lord.
That shows that it was not a mere human book, an
ordinary literary production, but that it was holy
unto the Lord. Then we find that the first seventy-
two psalms have been collected together, and we read
afterwards " the prayers of David the son of Jesse
are ended," and afterwards we find that there were
further collections of psalms in the days of Hczekiah.
All these commandments which are given for writing
of the books show us the purpose of God. The
prophet Isaiah refers to the book of the law in which
the people were to read, and to the prophet Isaiah
God said that he was to write upon tables and then
to put the writing into a book in order that it might
continue from generation to generation. You re-
member how Jeremiah, after the roll, which by the
command of the Lord he had written, had been
destroyed by King Jehoiakim, was commanded by
God to write another roll, and to put all the former
prophecies in it, and others which were added, show-
ing the special punishment of Jehoiakim. And you
remember how the prophet Habakkuk was told by
God that he was to write distinctly upon tables, so
distinctly, that he who ran might be able to read. ^

92 7'HE/EWS—AS CUS7VDIANS AND WITNESSES

There is one fact that I must refer to here,
namely, that in the reign of King Josiah there was
found the roll of the book that had been neglected
for a long time, and some critics from this draw the
inference, that this law could not have existed all
these centuries and then gone into oblivion. It is
very strange that modern writers tell us so em-
phatically what could not possibly have been. Surely
it is much better to ask historians to tell us what
could have been, because it has actually happened.
What must occur to every one immediately as per-
fectly parallel to this, is the history of Scripture for
many centuries, during the Middle Ages. When
Martin Luther first began to think on the subject,
he imagined that the whole Scripture was con-
tained in the gospels and epistles and other extracts
which were in use in the devotional books of the
priesthood. And so it happened in the history of
Israel ; Israel was a disobedient nation, and there
were ages in which there was no fear of God, and
no earnest desire for God, except among very few.
When we come to the days of Ezra and of Nehemiah
we see that a great effort was made to collect all the
books which up to that period were in existence, and
to form them into one collection. Thus we find the
testimony of the books of the Maccabees to this
collection as containing the five books of Moses and
the historical books to the end of the books of Kings
and parts of the Psalms and Proverbs, and afterwards
the rest of the books which, after the return of Israel
from the captivity to their own land, were gathered
together, as we also read in the book of the Maccabees.
This remains certain — that, according to the com-
mandment of God, all the books that we possess were

THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES 93

gradually added and afterwards collected, and, 300
years before our era, existed among the Jews as the
only authoritative sacred collection of books, and it
is a very remarkable thing that the Jews had never
any doubt about these books. The Jews possessed
literature of every kind. You know the books of the
wars and other books are mentioned in the course of
our Scriptures — historical and poetical records of
battles and of events that took place. You know
also that Solomon wrote thousands of proverbs and
also books on natural science, as we would call it, and
songs ; and in the book of Ecclesiastes there occurs
the expression that there is no end of making books.
But out of a very large or comparatively large litera-
ture they selected these books in regard to which
the apostle Paul uses the expression in the epistle to
Timothy " Holy books," that is to say, books which
belonged to God and were separated unto Him. And
as for the Apocrypha, the Apocrypha never pretends
to be on a level with the other Scripture. On the
contrary it speaks of all the other Scriptures with
the greatest reverence, as a great treasure which God
had given to Israel, and it speaks of itself with great
moderation. And, besides, the Apocryphal books
contain many stories which are evidently legends,
the character of which is entirely different from those
miraculous records that we have in holy Scripture.
The Apocrypha is not of the .slightest interest as
a link between the Old Testament and the New
Testament, either historically or theologically, for
where the Old Testament ends, there, and nowhere
else, does the New Testament begin. The Old
Testament ends in the book of Malachi — " I will send
a forerunner before my face." And the New Testa-

94 THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES

mcnt history virtually begins, "There was a man sent
from God, whose name was John." Neither was there
any development in doctrine or in prophecy. These
books are interesting indeed, but they are not at all
an organic part of the Scripture, nay, they contain
things which are contrary to the Scripture. They
are entirely on a human or lower level. And there-
fore the Jews never for a single w^;//^;// acknowledged
them as belonging to the canon.

One thing is interesting to notice in the Apocry-
phal books. They mourn that there has been no
prophet in Israel for a long time. One wonderful
thing is this — not merely that God protected his
faithful people against the temptations to lose
their nationality and to accommodate themselves
to the Greeks, and that he protected them in the
hour of danger, but that during all this period when
Israel was full of valour and courage, when the heroic
spirit was strong in Israel, there is not a single in-
stance of a false Messiah, because, according to the
prophecy of Daniel, during these 400 years, Messiah
was not to appear, — and no sooner was the prophecy
at an end as to the time, than the Jews were all in
expectation of the Messiah, and the Messiah appeared
in Jesus.

But now I must say a few words about the state
of the Jews in the days of our Saviour. They had
the Scriptures. The testimony of Josephus is well
known to all. I shall not read it to you, because
you can easily refer to it. He says that the Jews
possessed twenty- two books of Scripture, the five
books of Moses, historical books, four books of
hymns to God, and proverbs teaching about the
conduct of life and the prophetic books, and he says

THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND JVITNESSES 95

that none has ever dared to add to them, or to take
away anything from them, and that the Apocryphal
books although interesting were never added to
them, and that they looked upon the Scriptures as
divine. After the Babylonish captivity the whole
energy of Israel went into the Scriptures — the law
which God had given them by Moses to preserve, to
keep, to defend. But alas, this veneration for the
Scriptures became a false veneration. Here, indeed,
we may speak of bibliolatry, of the worship of the
book apart from the living God. They imagined
that the whole five books of Moses had come down
from heaven to Moses, — some said on one day, some
said at different periods.

Now they confused the written Word of God, who t^\^
was with them from all eternity, and they spoke with
the utmost blasphemy of God so delighting in the
five books of Moses as to read them every day. They
identified that which was to be a channel through
which God speaks to them with the living God.
And then there came necessarily the misunderstanding
of the law. The Bible, when it becomes a dead book
apart from the living God, is converted into a mere
spell ? It is frittered away by petty ingenuities, as
by the scribes in the time of Christ. It is now the
reign of casuists. The spiritual meaning of the law
evaporates, the whole system of self-righteousness is
wrought out.

The prophets had a twofold object. First, they
showed the nation that the law is spiritual, and that
outward observance did not satisfy God, and that
therefore the object of the law was that people should
repent and should long after a Saviour, and then the
prophets pointed out to them the Saviour ; but when

96 THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES

people are self-righteous they do not want God's
righteousness, and when they are whole they need
not a physician, and when they keep the law, and,
like the old Jews and many other people, imagine
they can keep even more than the law, so that they
have works of supererogation, the voice of prophecy
with its beautiful consolation and announcement of
the atonement has no charms. And therefore there
was a strange thing when our blessed Jesus came.
The Jews believed Scripture to be God's Word ;
Jesus believed the Scripture to be the Word of God ;
but between those two there was enmity. The Jews
rejected Jesus. Jesus testified against the Jews.
The testimony of Jesus against the Jews was this,
" You have not the Word of God in you, and there-
fore you are not able to believe who I am ; I am
sent unto you from God the Father. If the Scrip-
tures lived within you, you would recognise my
countenance, and you would hear my voice." But
what a strange tragedy happened here — a warning
to professing Christians who may reverence the Bible
and fight about the Bible, and yet to whom the
Bible instead of being a thing to help them to God,
becomes an obstacle that keeps them from God.
Just as they misrepresented the Sabbath, in regard to
which their tradition made void the commandments
of God.

But even the traditions, which were not committed
to paper for eight centuries, were intended only to
reverence the Bible, and the reason why, from the
time of the great synagogue, it was forbidden to
write any other tradition, was lest the commentary and
the tradition should be confused with the written
Word of God, the oracles that were committed to

THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES 97

them. So even in their sin and in their tradition
which was contrary to the mind of God, God kept
them faithful and loyal as conservators of the Word.
A poor nation indeed to guard the treasure that He
had entrusted to their care !

But there were Israelites who did hear the voice
of God in the Scriptures. First of all there was
John the Baptist, who reverberated Isaiah and
Malachi and the ist Psalm, and all the declarations
of Moses and the prophets. There was the Blessed
Virgin Mary, who had imbibed the songs of David
and the predictions of the fathers. There was the
priest Zacharias who was waiting for the horn of
salvation to rise in the house of God's servant David.
There were aged Simeon and Anna, and what were
they feeding on ? The Word of God was in them.
And what was that Word of God ? " Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people," saith your God, " and speak
to the heart of Jerusalem, and say to the cities of
Judah, ' behold your God.' " They were waiting
for the consolation of Israel.

And when the blessed Jesus came, those to whom
the Scripture was a living Word, although they may
have been comparatively ignorant, understood His
voice. It was the same voice again. " Blessed are
the poor in spirit, blessed are they that mourn,
blessed are the meek." Why was it that those first
disciples, when they first saw Jesus, said immediately,
" We have found the Messiah of whom Moses and
the prophets did write " ? Very few prophecies had
been fulfilled all that time. Perhaps they did not
know of any that had as yet been fulfilled. The
Word was in them through the Scripture, and the
Word which was before them appealed unto their

H

9S THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES

minds. Jesus Himself did not go to their schools.
They were astonished at His exposition of Scripture
because He had not been taught in their letters,
their comments, and their traditions, just as people
nowadays think that unless people are great in
philology and in criticism and in history, they
cannot understand the Bible. But Jesus was the
only one who ever understood the whole of the
Old Testament. People that are ignorant are ex-
cluded from these learned investigations, but Jesus
gave understanding to the simple. To Him belonged
the key of David, and He opened unto them the
Scriptures. But poor Israel ? Do not think that
the Pharisees were all hypocrites. They were all in
danger of becoming hypocrites, and some of them
were hypocrites, but many of them were godly,
religious, earnest men, and they truly reverenced the
Scriptures, and had a zeal for God, but no great
knowledge, and went about establishing their own
righteousness. When Jesus told them in the parable
that the kingdom would be taken away from them
and given to others, they said, " God forbid," and it
came out of their deep soul. " God forbid." And
they fulfilled the prophecies by rejecting Jesus. So
it had been predicted, as in the 1 1 8th Psalm : " The
stone which the builders rejected"; 5 3rd chapter of
Isaiah : " He was despised and rejected of men " ;
iith chapter of Zechariah, "Thirty pieces of silver
they weighed for my hire." All that was fulfilled in
Jesus. As the apostle Paul says in the book of
Acts, the Jews, thinking that in doing their own
will and purpose they were doing according to
God's will, were only fulfilling the prophecies.

And now perhaps some one will Say, " But what

THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES 99

becomes of the Old Testament scriptures ? What
becomes of that whole preparation which for thousands
of years God has given to His nation ? " The
Scripture was fulfilled in Jesus, and let me say that
all that was predicted of the Jews in the future was
also fulfilled in Jesus, for the promises were all made
unto Him, and the rights that the Jews have in the land
of Canaan arise from the covenant which God made
with Abraham ; but Christ is the actual instalment
of the possession. And the Old Testament scrip-
tures were, by the apostles, planted not merely among
the believing Jews where they already were in exist-
ence, but among all the Gentiles who embraced the
faith which is in Christ Jesus. But Israel as a
nation is preserved. If all Jews had accepted Jesus
as the Messiah their testimony would have been
regarded as partial ; but because the Scriptures
which contain the picture of Jesus remain in the hands
of the Jews who have rejected Jesus, none can gainsay
their witness ; and if all the Jews had been destroyed,
the witnesses for Jesus would have been absent.
So God has ordered it in His infinite wisdom.

But look for a moment at Israel according to the
flesh. You know the grief and sorrow which the
apostle Paul felt on account of Israel. Jerusalem
was dark, and all the different parties were intriguing
and scheming and thinking that they would be able
by statesmanship, and by conciliation, to steer
calmly and quietly. Services went on as usual in
the temple, but the word of judgment had already
gone forth, and the destruction of Jerusalem and of
the temple had already been predicted by the Lord ;
and to a spiritually-minded man like the apostle
Paul, although the judgment had not yet taken place

loo THE JEWS — AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES

outwardly, the judgment had ah'eady taken place in
reality. They hardened themselves against Stephen ;
they hardened themselves against the declaration of
the apostles. They continued in their unbelief. The
judgment was surely coming. The guilt was upon
them — greater guilt than any they had previously
incurred. And not merely was that guilt upon them,
that guilt which alone can account for their eighteen
hundred years' dispersion, — but their spiritual condi-
tion was ripening fast into that state in which it has
remained ever since. And not only so, but the poli-
tical complications were also maturing, for although
Israel committed this great sin against God and
against Jesus Christ, they did not fall away from
God. They still had a zeal for God. They still
preferred to die rather than to worship idols. They
were still waiting with all sincerity, and praying with
all fervour. It was not like a nation that had become
frivolous and idolatrous. When the nations of
Europe fall away, most likely they may fall away
into bottomless infidelity, but Israel never fell into
this, great as their guilt was. Therefore did the
apostle Paul weep for Israel, God's people, to whom
pertained the adoption. He made them His
children, and as His people He brought them out of
Egypt and instructed them, as a father dealeth with
his child. And to them belonged the glory, not the
glory of weapons or the glory of science, but the
glory that Jehovah had chosen them, and that He
would be in the midst of them. And to them belonged
the covenants made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
and afterwards. And to them belonged the law,
the ten commandments written by God Himself
upon the tables of stone. And to them belonged the

THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES loi

beautiful worship, the tabernacle with its Holy and
Holy of Holies ; and to them belonged the fathers.
Oh think only for a moment of the fathers. Think
of Abraham who was called the Friend of God, who
received the promise in faith, nothing doubting, who
was ready to give up Isaac, knowing that he would
receive him back again from the dead, and of Jacob
who wrestled with God and was called a prince, and
of Moses, by Whom Israel went out of Egypt, and to
whom there were given the ordinances of the law,
and who was a mediator between God and the Jews.
And think of all the warriors and judges, strong men
and fervent, who did not yield to the masses, but
were loyal to the Most High, and were contented
with three hundred who chose to obey God, rather
than with vast numbers. The stars in the heavens
were fighting in their favour — the sword of Jehovah
and of Gideon — they kept the people in discipline
by the Word of the Most High.

And think of all those sweet singers and psalmists
that poured out their souls in songs and melodies,
and thanksgivings and praises ; or of those prophets,
pillars of light who were in communion with the
omniscient mind, to whom a thousand years are but
as one day. They heard the distant thunder of
God's judgments and they were afraid. They saw
the beautiful countenance of Immanuel and they
poured forth words of consolation. And think of
the martyrs that were not afraid of the lion or of the
edge of the sword, or of the violence of the fiery
furnace, of devoted children and loving mothers, and
fathers of whom concerning the flesh Christ came,
who is God over all, blessed for ever ! And this is
the nation whom God had to chasten in His sore

I02 7^BE JEIVS—AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES

displeasure. Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple,
which was the very breath of their nostrils, was laid
bare in the dust, and Israel itself became cursed among
all the nations.

Hei-e I must conclude with but one remark. See
then this nation. How many have wept over Israel ;
for, whose sorrow can be compared, as it says in the
book of Lamentations, with the sorrow of Jerusalem ?
Your poet has said " The wild dove hath a nest, the
fox its cave, mankind its country : Israel but the
grave." Oh no, and a thousand times no. Israel
has the Scripture, and this Scripture it is which has
kept Israel .alive, up to this day. Different from
all other nations Israel has the Scripture, and when-
ever the Holy Ghost breathes upon them, they shall
behold Jesus to whom Moses and the prophets have
testified. For the future is still before them, and
that future which is spoken of by the mouth of all
the holy prophets, even from the beginning.

I have often thought of that triumphal arch of
Titus which was erected after the destruction of
Jerusalem. There it still stands in Rome, and on
that arch you "can see represented the captive Jews
and the seven-branched candlestick of the temple
and the table of shewbread, and in front the great
emperor and conqueror Titus, There is another
triumphal arch which the apostle Paul has also
erected right among the Romans — the epistle to the
Romans, from the 9th chapter to the i ith, — and on
this arch it is written, " all Israel shall be saved."
And in all this the Scripture, partly fulfilled unto us
already, will show forth its truth and its steadfastness
unto the ages to come, for as the prophet said that
there will be yet in the streets of Jerusalem children

THE JEWS— AS CUSTODIANS AND WITNESSES 103

playing and making merry, so all the chapters of the
Old Testament will shine forth with renewed vitality
and beauty when the Lord shall visit His children
and shall fulfil His word, and when all ends of the
earth shall see together the salvation of our God.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who alone doth
great wonders, and blessed be His glorious name, and
let all the earth be filled with His glory. Amen.

VI

ISRAEL SINCE THE DISPERSION— AN EVIDENCE OF
THE TRUTH OF PROPHECY

Israel since the dispersion — A witness for the truth of prophecy — A
witness in a negative way — Preserved in a wonderful manner,
physically and spiritually — No human wisdom could have fore-
seen this — Prophets interested in all nations — The preparation by
conquests of Alexander — The Hellenic Jews — Scattering of Israel
after Christ — Kept together by the Scriptures — Israel a witness
for God during all these centuries as in the Sabbath, in the
Festivals, the Passover, the Day of Atonement — Observance of the
law of Moses — Their peculiar position, a nation among nations
• — Nothing similar — Hegel's view of Israel — The insoluble problem
— Their formal view of the law — Their Messianic expectations given
up — Their abstract ideas of God — Worldlinessand infidelity — Their
stale runs parallel with prophecy — Their restoration certain by
prophecy — Prophecy a stereotyped miracle — The Jews do not
know the reasons of the judgments — The veil will be removed —
The coming of the Lord.

My subj'ect this morning is : Israel since the dis-
persion a witness for the truth of the history and
prophecy of Holy Scripture.

With the captivity in Babylon begins a period of
the history of the kingdom of God which still con-
tinues, and which shall only end at the second
coming of our Lord. Why is the evangelist Luke
so anxious to impress upon us that the birth of Jesus
took place under the reign of Caesar Augustus,

ISRAEL SINCE THE DISPERSION 105

emperor of Rome ? Why is Pontius Pilate mentioned
in the creed ? In order that it may be impressed upon
us that the sceptre had indeed departed from Judah,
and that it was under the fourth world -monarchy
that Jesus the new-born King of the Jews appeared.
But the times of the Gentiles appeared more clearly
after the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion
of Israel among all nations. This is the expression
that our blessed Saviour Himself used, that during the
times of the Gentiles Jerusalem was to be trodden
under foot. And during this period, we behold Israel
under the displeasure of God, spiritually blind,
scattered among all nations of the earth, and yet still
in allegiance to God, and God still regarding them
and watching over them with favour ; whereas, on
the other hand, we see the Church consisting both of
Jews and Gentiles, knowing the name of the Triune,
and going forth in the name of Jesus among all the
nations of the world, yet themselves a little flock.
And as Israel was opposed to and separated from
all the nations, the Church is a witness against the
world — a witnessing body, and a suffering body,
until it at last shall please God to give it the
kingdom.

Israel is a witness for the truth in a negative way.
The Church of Christ is a witness for the truth in a
positive way. Only omniscience could have foreseen
and foretold the wonderful and complicated methods
which divine providence was to take in carrying out
the counsel of the Most High. That the Messiah,
after many centuries of preparation, should come to
Israel to be rejected, and that their rejection of the
Messiah should not end their history, but only retard
it for a number of centuries, while it gave opportunity

io6 ISRAEL SINCE THE DISPERSION—

and time of working, to another portion of the divine
counsel, if it be possible still more sublime and more
mysterious, — none but prophets sent by God Him-
self could ever have foretold.

Very clear, indeed, is the prediction, as for
instance in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, that the
time was coming when Israel would have their
eyes open to see that the man, whom they rejected
and whom they thought to be an enemy of God and
afflicted by God, was an innocent and spotless Lamb,
and that His death was an atonement and expiation
for their sins. Equally clear is the testimony of
Zechariah that the final conversion, repentance, and
glorification of Israel would be connected, not with
the acceptance of the Messiah at the first advent, but
with the acceptance of a rejected Messiah, when they
shall look upon Him whom they had pierced. And
how mysterious and inexplicable was the prediction of
Daniel, that the founder of the fifth monarchy which
was to last for ever was the Son of Man, who would
come, not out of Bethlehem as Micah had predicted,
but from the throne above, and with the clouds of
heaven. How remarkable is it, and quite different
from any imagination of man, that God, when He
sent Jesus the first time, fulfilled most clearly the
predictions which had been given by the prophets,
and yet in such a way that the fulfilment by no means
compelled faith but remained a test and trial to Israel
whether, so to speak, the kingdom of God was con-
genial to them ; and therefore, although they fully
believed in the whole of Scripture, they did not feel
themselves shut up to the reception of Jesus.
" Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself" In all
revelations of God there is still an element of dark-

AN EVIDENCE OF THE TRUTH OF PROPHECY 107

ness, in order that faith may be tested. And so
Jesus Himself predicted to Jerusalem, summing up
their whole past history, that they who had killed
the prophets, and stoned them that were sent to
them, were now at last to receive the recompense of
their evil deeds, that their house should be left to
them desolate because they had not understood the
time of their visitation. But yet not for ever did He
part with them. He held out the bright and glorious
hope that they would see Him again, and not merely
with the eyes of the body, but also with the eyes of
faith, welcoming Him as the Blessed One in the name
of the Lord.

See, then, the Old Testament predictions, and the
New Testament predictions tested most clearly, in the
light of fact, by the history of the last eighteen cen-
turies, that Israel rejected Jesus, — that God gave up
Israel to banishment and punishment, yet loving
them and being faithful to the covenant which he
had made, — that this nation is preserved in a most
wonderful way both physically and spiritually for
the fulfilment of those predictions which are inwoven,
in the Old Testament, with the predictions of the
first advent. The apostle Paul, long before Jeru-
salem was destroyed, like all spiritual men, saw that
the end had already set in, and therefore he uses the
expression with regard to the Jews that the wrath
had come upon them to the uttermost, — for in reality
when Jesus died upon the cross and when the veil
of the temple was rent in twain there was already
spiritually decided what was to be the history of
Israel. The guilt of rejecting Christ, the guilt of
rejecting the testimony of the apostles remained
upon the nation. The spiritual self-righteousness

io8 ISRAEL SINCE THE DISPERSION —

and blindness only increased, and still as they were
loyal to God, and abhorred all idolatry, and
wished to obey the commandments of God, the
conflict with Rome could not in any way be
modified, and so the destruction of Jerusalem
was only the outward and historical manifestation
of the inward and spiritual facts which had already
taken place.

But what a wonderful thing it is that Israel, God's
people, should be scattered among all the nations of
the earth. Let me speak plainly on this subject. What
a strange thing it is, that after God for centuries and
centuries had (to speak foolishly) done His utmost to
separate Israel, in one corner of the world, from all
the nations of the earth, for that was the whole
system of God with Israel, He should then take this
nation and scatter them among all the peoples of
the world ! It is quite true that for 400 years
He allowed them to be in Egypt, and there, when
they were in Egypt being brought into contact
with the most civilised nation of antiquity, they in
many respects matured most rapidly in the things
pertaining to this life. But during those four cen-
turies they in no wise amalgamated with Egypt, for
they being shepherds were an abomination to the
Egyptians ; and the Egyptians, who in every respect
were exactly the opposite of what God had taught
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were also an abomination
unto Israel ; so there they were in Egypt and yet
separated from Egypt. Forty years He insulated
them in the wilderness to keep them all to Himself,
and as it were to show them that they were a nation
entirely separated unto God. When He brought
them into their own land He gave them every

AN EVIDENCE OF THE TRUTH OF PROPHECY 109

possible instruction that they were not to adopt
the customs of the nations that they still found
there, and that they were to be very resolute in
exterminating those nations ; and He gave them a
law which in every respect separated them from the
rest of the world, — for the strict prohibition of idolatry
in every form and shape was like a wall of fire round
Israel. All their regulations about their food and their
vestments and their daily life showed them, and
impressed upon them day by day, that they were a
nation set apart unto the Lord. And the very
country into which He brought them was altogether
sufficient for itself It was separated from all the
rest of the world by the mountain ranges, by the
Mediterranean Sea, by the large deserts on the south
and south-east. It possessed everything that they
required for their sustenance, for it was an exceedingly
fertile land, so that there was no inducement for
them to go out in the way of commerce, — and com-
merce God discouraged in every possible way among
the Jews. They were to take no interest upon
money, which at once paralysed the idea of com-
mercial speculation ; nor was it according to the
idea of God that people were to amass large capitals,
so that neither by commerce were they to have
intercourse with other nations, nor was there to be in
them any desire of aggrandisement or of warfare.
When afterwards God gave them David their king,
and Jerusalem their centre, and the temple where
was His habitation, it was said to Israel, " Oh happy
people, be content: here I have planted you. You
are a nation of twelve tribes, descendants of twelve
brothers. There never was a nation so compact
together as you are. Love one another and walk

ISRAEL SINCE THE DISPERSION-

before me, and Jerusalem shall be your centre, and
David the man after my heart, and the sons of
David, shall be your kings and your leaders."

But I have not said everything yet. When pro-
phecy looks forward to the days of the future, even
then it regards Israel as being settled in their own
country not to leave it, and as having Jerusalem as
their centre and Mount Zion as their centre ; and
the influence that they are to exert upon the rest of
the world is not by aggressiveness but by attractive-
ness. As long as the world stands Zion and Jeru-
salem are to remain Zion and Jerusalem, and are the
centre. The nations are to go up there. The Jews
are not to go from Zion and Jerusalem to the nations.
God's great idea for all times is not that Israel should
be scattered, but that Israel should be concentrated
in their own land, and that Jerusalem should be ' a
centre of all religious and national life throughout
the whole earth. And then He takes them — destroys
Jerusalem and the temple, and scatters them among
all the nations of the earth.

Now is there not here something wonderful ? No
human wisdom could have foreseen such a paradox.
It is so paradoxical that it is astonishing that people
are not more struck and perplexed by this problem,
but it is simply because they do not believe the Bible
literally ; and in no other way can it be believed.

But there, is another aspect of this which makes
it still more complicated. God had not said to the
Jews, " I have chosen you, and you only, and I have
given you this country, and I have given you the
temple. Now walk before me." But He said to
them, " I have chosen you only as my first-born, I
want to bless the nations of the earth. You must

AN EVIDENCE OF THE TRUTH OF PROPHECY in

not think that I have chosen you for your sake alone.
Yqu must be interested in all the idolaters of the
world. You must pray that My light may visit the
distant islands. You must have a world-wide heart.
You must sing :

All people that on earth do dwell,
Sing- to the Lord with cheerful voice.

You must look forward to this as the great glory
— My great glory and your great glory too — that all
ends of the earth shall have the same privileges, and
shall have the same joy which I have given to you."

Therefore God never allowed the Jews to think
for a moment that He was only the God of the Jews.
The prophets are interested in all the nations by
whom Israel was surrounded, — and now comes the
preparation for the dispersion. The first preparation
I spoke about in my first lecture- — the adaptation of
the Greek language through the empire of Alexander
the Great — how it was brought to the Jews, and how
the Jews w^ere brought into the Graeco-Macedonian
empire and adopted the Greek language ; and owing
to this there arose a new kind of Jewish population,
the Hellenistic population, who, though they were
loyal to the God of their fathers, yet were acquainted
with the language and the culture of Greece, and
thus became accustomed to think of the spread of
the knowledge of Jehovah among all nations.

And, besides, there was another preparation.
There could only be one temple in Palestine,
which is a very important fact, and contains a
very important doctrine ; but although there was
only one temple in Palestine there could be as many
synagogues as it pleased the Jews to erect, for

ISRAEL SINCE THE DISTERSION-

wherever a few Israelites chose to gather together
to worship God, to read the Scriptures, and to
converse about the Scriptures, there was nothing
to prevent them from forming a synagogue. And
therefore those synagogues were all over the country,
and as you read in the gospels and in the book of
Acts, they met for worship, and chiefly for the read-
ing of the Scriptures, and for conversation on what
God had taught them. And along with this was
what I tried to explain before — the concentration of
the whole Jewish religious and intellectual power upon
the Scripture, and above all, upon the law of Moses.
Now, when the destruction of Jerusalem came, and
when thousands and tens of thousands lost their
lives, and thousands were led into captivity, and
calamity came upon Israel such as no nation ever
witnessed, still this nation, notwithstanding all their
calamity, remained loyal to God, although the blood-
guiltiness was still upon them ; and nothing ever
induced them to give up the worship of the one true
God, or to adapt themselves in any way to the
idolatry and to the customs of the nations ; and there
they were, as if nothing had happened, wherever
God in His providence had brought them, studying
the Scriptures, rabbis having their disciples round
them, whom they instructed in the wisdom and in
the ways of God, meeting for worship every Sabbath
day, and holding their synagogue service, observing
the law of Moses with the greatest loyalty and dis-
interestedness. They did not apostatise from God,
they did not fall into infidelity. They were not
swallowed up by despair, and they did not say,
" Why should we serve God any longer after He
has thus dealt with us ? " They felt it was on

AN EVIDENCE OF THE TRUTH OF PROPHECY 113

account of their sins that God had thus dealt with
them, but with a heroism and faith which does
remain a marvel throughout all history they con-
tinued in the old ways. They had the Word of
God, and that it was that preserved them. Although
they did not understand it spiritually, although there
was a veil upon their hearts, still God's Word was
with them. The ten commandments were heard
every Sabbath day. The life-giving Word of God
sounded in their ears. The beautiful narratives of
their forefathers were familiar to their memory and
dear to their heart, for the Word of God, even pos-
sessed outwardly without the spiritual teaching unto
salvation, is a great power, — and there is no power
in the world equal to it.

And so Israel, during all this time, has been a
witness for God. All their past history is embodied
in them now. Monuments made of marble and of
stone are nothing compared with the nation of millions
for eighteen centuries under the greatest persecutions,
and in the most diverse circumstances, commemorat-
ing continually the great facts, that had been wrought
out for them in the days of old. There is the Sabbath
Day. Israel up to this hour, every seventh day, keeps
the day which God had commanded their fathers to
keep. What a marvellous idea is that observance of
the Sabbath, Do not think now of the relation of
the Sabbath to the Lord's Day. Do not think now
of the Pharisaical Sabbath, which is often called the
Jewish Sabbath by a great confusion of ideas. It
was a caricature of the Old Testament Sabbath. But
think of what you read in God's Word — that God,
who created all things in six days, on the seventh
day, on which He rested, having gone out from

I

114 ISRAEL SINCE THE DISPERSION—

Himself into the outward, returns into Himself,
and takes the whole world with Him that it may-
rest in His own love. Therefore He hallowed the
seventh day. To Israel time was not like a wide
ocean in which there are no divisions, and which is
measureless and restless, as Milton speal<s of Sab-
bathless Satan. But to Israel time is articulated.
God lives with His people. He lives with them,
while they work for six days. He lives and re-
joices with them when, on the seventh day, they
rest before Him. In these days, when people are
beginning to doubt the first article of the creed,
what a marvellous testimony is Israel with its
Sabbath day, because God created the heavens
and the earth.

Look at all the festivals that they keep. Look
at the passover kept in every Jewish family. There
you will see what happened in the upper chamber
where Jesus was with His twelve apostles. They
commemorate the wonderful dealing of God with
their fathers when He sent ten plagues upon Egypt,
and when, by the blood of the Lamb, He brought
them out of the house of bondage. They read
those chapters of Exodus. They sing hymns of
praise. They break the unleavened bread and all
the members of the family partake of it. They
bless four cups with benedictions ; and one of these
cups was the cup that Jesus set apart for the Lord's
Supper. What a marvellous thing is this passover ;
and the little children among the Jews are very
excited when the passover draws near. The un-
leavened bread is brought in, but along with that
there is also to be a purification, and every vestige
of leaven wherever it is found, even with childish

AN EVIDENCE OF THE TRUTH OF PROPHECY 115

scrupulosity, has to be removed from their vestments
and from their rooms. You remember what the
apostle says, " Keep the festival not with the old
leaven of malice and of wickedness " ? There is a
commentary on that every year, in the houses of
the Jews. Or shall I remind you of the day
of atonement when the Jews fast, and humble them-
selves before God, confessing their sins and believing
that on that day God absolves them from their sins,
so that they are able to go on for another year, in
worship-communion with Him ? Or the festival of
the weeks and of the New Year } — what wonderful
mementoes all these are of the facts which took
place. What else could have made them observe
them, year after year, and century after century ?
And as they observe the festivals, so they observe
the law of Moses ; and it is owing to that law of
Moses that they are still in existence, for Israel is
not like many of the other nations. Other nations
when they have reached as it were their highest
point, and when they have been living in great
civilisation and luxury, become effete, on account
of their immorality and on account of their wicked-
ness ; but Israel has never become effete. The
sanctities of family life endure in Israel up to this
day, owing to the law of Moses — owing to the ten
commandments — owing to the ordinances which
God gave to His people and to God Himself watch-
ing over them. They are physically, as they ever
were, distinguished by their longevity, distinguished
by their tenacity and vigour of purpose, distinguished
by their mental freshness, so that they are able
to enter into any branch of study or into any
occupation of life. It is the Word of God that has

ii6 ISRAEL SINCE THE DISPERSION—

done this. There is nothing so degrading as to be
persecuted, as to be mocked, as to be banished
into one corner of a town, as to be excluded from
social life. If a nation ever might have become
altogether degraded and might have dwindled down
into non-existence, it would have been the Jews ;
but God in the prophets said that they were never
to cease as a nation before Him, and He says.
Even when I shall punish you and banish you
I will not abhor you. I will never forget the
covenant I have made with your fathers. I will
still regard you with favour and preserve you for the
time when there shall be given unto you repentance.
There is no analogous fact in history. Nations
have migrated and, from stress of circumstances,
sought other countries in which to settle. There
has been colonisation on large plans. There have
been other movements which have brought nations
into different countries ; but then they have become
amalgamated with the nations among whom they
have settled, as the French refugees in England.
There have been also the nomadic tribes of Egyptians
who are wandering about over the world. But a
nation like Israel, dispersed over the whole face of
the earth, keeping their law and separated as a
community, yet taking an interest, whenever they
are allowed, in every development of history and of
mental culture, has never existed. Some of them have
attempted to forget that they are Jews, but have never
been allowed in God's providence to do so. As a
Spanish rabbi said once some centuries ago, " There
is a blessing on us and there is a curse on us. You
are trying now to exterminate us and you will not
succeed, because there is a blessing on us. And the

AN EVIDENCE OF THE TRUTH OF PROPHECY 117

time is coming when you will try to favour us and
yon will not succeed, because there is a curse on us."
Mysterious nation ! read the Old Testament ; read
the New Testament ; and you will see that what no
historian can explain is explained by the omniscient
mind of God. Therefore the great German meta-
physician Hegel said that the history of the Jews
was an enigma to him ; he understood the philo-
sophy of the history of other nations, but here was
a problem that he could not solve. No man can
solve it because they are the nation which God has
set apart — the paradox of the world's history, that
paradox which finds its solution only in Jesus Christ,
for as the prophet Hosea said, Many days — a long
period — the children of Israel shall be without king,
without priest, without ephod, but at the same time
without idolatry either public or private. Formerly
they fell into idolatry. Since their dispersion they
have not fallen into idolatry. But I must point out
to you the spiritual deterioration of Israel. I have
shown you the good points of Israel ; I want to show
you also the spiritual deterioration of Israel — and
how this had been likewise predicted.

The first is this — and here Israel is a witness not
merely for the Old Testament but for the New
Testament, for there is no separation between those
two, — the Jews cling to the Old Testament and
refuse the interpretation of the New. The Gentiles
fancy that they can understand the New Testament
without the Old Testament. Oh, it is perfectly
impossible. The apostle Paul expounds the Jews
to us, out of his own experience. " They have a zeal
for God but without knowledge. They go about
establishing a righteousness of their own, not submit-

iiS ISRAEL SINCE THE DISPERSION—

ting themselves unto the righteousness of God."
Their attention has become concentrated on the law.
This is an important point. Both Genesis and the
prophets are comparatively neglected by the Jews
for the sake of the law of Moses, and yet the law of
Moses was only a parenthesis, and it is comparatively
of less importance than cither the book of Genesis
or the prophets. Therefore having an outward view
of the law, and thinking that they can fulfil the law,
the very purpose of the law has not been fulfilled in
them. That is, they have no true consciousness of
sin and no longing for a Saviour. This is the
difficulty of all ministers with the Jews, as it is the
difficulty also with the unconverted Gentiles. There
is no difference. If people do not know that they
are under the curse of the law and that they are
guilty in the sight of God, they will have no longing
for a Saviour.

The second deterioration is as regards the Messiah.
The Jews had many false Messiahs. One of their
greatest men, a renowned Rabbi, and a man in whom
there is much to admire and even to reverence,
was a follower of the false Messiah. But after
the destruction of Jerusalem, when they had no
certain genealogies, they thought that the only
way of finding out when the Messiah was coming
was to examine the dates and times of the pro-
phecies ; and when they examined these, and the
people were often disappointed, then the Jewish
rabbis gave a commandment that there was to
be no more investigation of the Messianic times,
because the people were only disappointed. In fact,
the less they thought about the Messiah the better.
And then there came a time when all those passages,

AN EVIDENCE OE THE TRUTH OE PROPHECY 119

like the 22nd Psalm and the 53rd chapter of Isaiah,
and many others, which the ancient Jewish inter-
preters had referred to the Messiah were explained
away by the Jewish rabbis, because all Christians
applied them to Jesus, and they were referred to the
Jewish nation or to some righteous man, — exactly as
the rationalists have been trying to explain away the
direct and indirect Mosaic testimony of the Old
Testament. And then the idea of the Messiah was
lowered by the Jews, — and whereas formerly in the Old
Testament it was not an exclusively national idea,
but the Messiah was to be a light to lighten the
Gentiles as well as the glory of the people of Israel,
now the Messiah became to them, so to speak, a
provincial idea — not a spiritual national idea.

Last of all — and this is the most important — why
does the prophet Hosea say, "In the latter days
Israel shall seek the Lord " ? If I say that of
heathen nations — " They shall seek the Lord " — it is
intelligible ; but to say it of the Jews, who are con-
stantly worshipping God, that they shall seek Jehovah
seems indeed very strange. And this is the thing
that most offends the Jews when we tell them this.
Instead of knowing the living God as He revealed
Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, — the fulness
of light and love, — the Jew^s have now come to think,
that their great religion is monotheism. I tried to
explain in one of my lectures that monotheism is not
the religion of the Old Testament, but that Jehovahism
is the religion of the Old Testament. Now they lay
all the stress upon the unity, of which the Bible never
speaks. The Bible says that there is only one God, but
the Bible says that in this God there is God, and God as
He reveals Himself, and the Spirit of God. But instead

ISRAEL SINCE THE DISPERSION-

of that, the Jews have this abstract idea of a unity ;
and in that abstract idea there is no warming for the
heart nor is there any peace for the conscience, and
therefore is it said that in the latter days they shall
seek Jehovah ; and this accounts for the most extra-
ordinary fact that the father of modern pantheism,
Spinoza, was a Jew. This bare abstract idea of unity
is not able to satisfy the intellect, and leads more or
less to the departure even from monotheism.

And then can we be astonished, that along with
this there is among the Jews a great deal of worldli-
ness and indifference and unbelief, and of every kind of
sin even down to infidelity ? That is the state of the
nation up to this day. While there is a remnant of
those Israelites who, by the grace of God, have come
to the faith in Jesus Christ according to the pro-
phetic word that there must always be even during
the time of their dispersion, a remnant from Israel,
according to the election of grace ; and while the
godly Israelites who are going on in Talmudic dark-
ness are still clinging to the Word of God, there are
great numbers of worldly, indifferent, unbelieving,
rationalistic, and infidel Jews. What will become
of them ? But the actual condition of the nation
during these eighteen centuries, physically, spiritually,
morally, and the predictions of prophecy run perfectly
parallel. And now to one who believes Scripture, it
makes no difference whether a thing has been actually
accomplished in history or is merely written in the
Bible. One is as sure to us as the other. We have
not the slightest doubt that Jerusalem was destroyed,
not only because the Roman historians tell us, but
because Christ said that it would be destroyed.
Neither have we the slightest doubt that Israel shall

AlSr EVIDENCE OF THE TRUTH OF PROPHECY 121

be restored, converted, and reinstated in their own
land, because God has said so. The Word of God
standeth sure for ever.

Now prophecy is a stereotyped miracle. A man
may say, " If I had been on the Red Sea and seen
the Jews pass through it, or if I had been present
when the Lord raised Lazarus from the dead, I should
have believed, — but these great facts took place in a
day, in a moment, and then they disappeared." But
prophecy is miracle stereotyped, continued miracle.
It has been going on now from century to century.
People speak about " realising " the Bible. What do
you mean by " realising " the Bible, and the things
that are spoken in the Bible ? When people speak
about realising things — an expression which is
exceedingly dangerous and misleading — what they
mean is that they want to get their imagination
into such a heated condition, and their feelings so
roused, that they may have something better than
faith. So when they see the Ammergau play
they think that that is realising the crucifixion of
Jesus. It may be realising the crucifixion, but
it is not realising Christ crucified. Read the 53 rd
chapter of Isaiah and you will realise the crucifixion
—that is to say, believe it. But if you wish to see
the Word of God, study the Jews as they live in the
present day and there you will see how true it all is,
I remember when I was a child, one evening, as I
felt the air of the room oppressive, I went out ; and
there I saw the beautiful stars shining brightly, and
the thought flashed across my mind, " These are the
stars that God showed to our father Abraham, and
we are here : the stars are here. How much more
is God still in the world." And so all the history of

122 ISRAEL SINCE THE DISPERSION—

the Jews — their father Abraham, their rabbi Moses,
their prophet Elijah, the shield of David, the wisdom
of Solomon — all these are national possessions
which live within them. And all the history of the
Gospels and of the Acts — and the very condition of
the Jews themselves at the time of Christ, the way
they talked, the way they argued, the way they
rejected him, and the way that some of them believed
in him — behold all these things you may now see
with your eyes and hear with your ears, over all the
countries of Europe and most of the countries of
Asia. God has given them to be a witness.

The Jews themselves do not understand their
history, for they do not understand the reason of
their dispersion. They confess their sins ; they
weep, as only Jews can weep ; they fast on the
anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem. This
very year in which I am speaking to you there have
been collected poems written by Jews in Gallicia in
the peculiar dialect of mixed Hebrew and German,
in which there is as intense a national feeling and
as mournful a spirit as can be shown by any nation,
- — as if Jerusalem had only been destroyed last year ;
but the reason they do not know. That is again
according to the Scriptures. It is only according to
prophecy. In no other way can you account for
it. Eighteen hundred years, they have seen that
they are in banishment. They ask themselves the
1 reason why, and they are not able to answer it.
Israel has never yet confessed the blood-guiltiness
that is upon them, because they crucified Jesus.
The Athenians after putting Socrates to death very
soon regretted the judicial murder which they had
committed ; but Israel has never acknowledged or

AN EVIDENCE OF THE TRUTH OF PROPHECY 123

regretted the crucifixion of Christ up to this day.
The insipid admissions of rationalistic Jews that
those were the days of barbarism and of religious
intolerance, which are greatly to be regretted, is no
confession of the unparalleled, national, blood-red sin
which Israel committed against the Just and Holy
One. But the Old Testament tells you that it would
be so. In the latter days they would say, "We
thought him as one smitten of God, and we hid, as
it were, our faces from him." And Zechariah says,
" There will be given repentance to Israel, and they
shall mourn over him as over a son, an only son." ^
And He is their only son. We have got nothing else : ^^^C
no power, no wisdom, no honour. The only thing ^^
that we have produced — and not we, but the grace
of God and the Holy Ghost — is Jesus. He is their
only son ; but for many centuries they have not known
it. But then shall they mourn over Him, as over an
only son. As with the sons of Jacob, after they had
sold Joseph into Egypt, returned to their father, and
their conduct afterwards was better than it had been
before, but the blood of Joseph was still upon their
consciences and hearts, and afterwards they were
driven to Egypt, and there Joseph revealed himself
to them — " I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold
into Egypt " — thus will it be with Israel. That they
do not know Jesus up to this time has always been
predicted ; and this is what the apostle Paul says :
" There is a veil on their hearts " so that they do not
understand the whole covenant. And it is what
Jesus says, " Ye shall see me no more till ye shall
say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the
Lord." Israel is a witness for the truth of the Old
and the New Testament scriptures.

124 ISRAEL SINCE THE DISPERSION

God is coming — God Himself in the person of His
Son. Great judgments will be against the anti-
Christian nations. Great power and majesty shall
be made manifest upon His chosen people Israel.
The Church of Christ has her position, and the
Church of Christ is associated with the blessed Lord,
and with the blessed Lord takes the deepest interest
in the manifestation of His kingdom here upon earth.
Oh that we may know the living God. Israel com-
memorating the passover every year says, " Next
year in Jerusalem." The Church of Christ com-
memorating the passover on the Lord's Day, or
whenever it is, even by partaking of that bread and
of that cup, says, " Till He come " : both together
witnesses for the Scripture. The Scripture is God's
Word, and this conviction we have the more strongly,
the more we are filled with faith in the living God,
and realise that there is a history going on, and
know that He who was, and who is, is also He that
is to come.

May the Lord grant unto us that His Word may
thus be living to us. Amen.

VII

THE CHURCH OF CHRIST BASED ON THE OLD
TESTAMENT— THE NEW TESTAMENT

The Church of Christ — Her relation to the books of the New Testament
as well as to Moses and the Prophets — Often said, Church of
Christ existed before the Scriptures — This assertion superficial
and false — The preaching of Christ and His apostles always con-
nected with the Scriptures — In all epistles directed even to Gentile
congregations, every doctrine proved from Old Testament, as
justification by faith — The grandeur of the New Testament ; its
simplicity ; its compactness — The infinite depths it reveals — Yet
its inspiration exceedingly human and exceedingly simple — In-
dividuality of writers allowed fullest scope — This manifest from
the fact that nearly all the books are letters— The four Gospels
— The Acts — The Epistles; their various characteristics — The
Apocalypse — No difference in teaching between gospels and
epistles — The epistles give what men were not able to bear before
— Universal agreement of the writers — Antiquity no authority as
to faith — Marked deterioration after apostles — The fathers —
What happened to the Jews happened to the Church — Delusions
of Rome — Reformation a spiritual movement — The supreme
authority of Scripture acknowledged as a theory in all the Churches,
till the Council of Trent — Authority of Church in interpreting
New Testament not better than of Jews in interpreting Old
Testament — Perspicacity of Scripture — Intended for all, though
it needs the enlightenment of the Spirit.

I HAVE endeavoured to show in my last addresses
how the Jews were the custodians of the Old Testa-
ment Scriptures. I now wish to direct your attention
to the Church of Christ and her relation to the books
of the New Testament as well as to those of Moses
and the prophets.

126 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST BASED ON THE

It has often been remarked that the Church of
Christ originated without the Scriptures, only by the
preached word of the Gospel, and that as it thus
originated, it also existed before the Scriptures. This
assertion is very superficial, and in fact it is not true,
because the preaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and
the preaching of the apostles were always connected
with the Scriptures of the Old Testament, yea, founded
upon them, so that from the very beginning the
Church owed its origin not merely to the preaching
of the Word, but to the preaching of the Word as being
the explanation of the Word which was written, and
which God had given to the fathers. We can see
this not merely concerning the Church, which was
founded among Israel — for what was the preaching
of the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost, and of
the apostle Paul in the synagogue at Antioch, but
the explanation of that which was written, because
that which was written was not now superseded, nor
merely supplemented, but it was fulfilled ; it was
illumined and transfigured, and it was to remain for
ever as the authoritative announcement of the Most
High.

And when the apostles went to the idolaters, how
remarkable is it that unto them also they preached
the Scriptures, so that we find that in all the epistles
which afterwards they directed to the congregations
which had been formed from among the heathen, they
proved every doctrine from the Old Testament Scrip-
tures. Justification by faith was proved from the
prophet Habakkuk, from the example of Abraham,
and from the experience of David. And the apostle
Paul was so anxious, that in that world-wide epistle
to the Romans there should be given light to the

OLD TESTAMENT — THE NEW TESTAMENT ii-j

Gentiles, as to the true position of the Old Testament,
that he shows in it how Jesus Christ was the
minister of the circumcision to fulfil the promises
which were given to the fathers, and how the Gentiles
were brought in, in accordance with the prophetic
word. He was afraid of that congregation in Rome,
and of all the Gentile congregations, falling into what
I may call Gentilising error, just as he was afraid of
the Galatians falling into Judaising error ; and all
the practical exhortations that he gave to the Churches
were based upon the Word of God — "as it is
written." So he writes to the Corinthians that the
experience of Israel in the wilderness was to be a
guide and a warning unto them. And when the
apostles were near the end of their earthly course,
and saw the dangers to which the Church of Christ
would be exposed, they with all emphasis directed
men again to the Scriptures, which were to be a light
shining to them in darkness, and which were profitable
to them, and able to make them perfect, furnishing
them to every good work.

The glory of the Old Testament is great. The
glory of the New Testament is still greater. But it
is not by depreciating the one that we shall be able
to see the true magnitude and excellence of the other.
The Old Testament in its humility compares itself
to the night, although it is illuminated by the moon
and the stars ; and the very last word of the Old
Testament in the prophet Malachi is, that unto them
that fear God the sun of righteousness shall rise with
healing in its wings. Therefore although the night
is solemn and beautiful, the day with the sun is still
more glorious.

Think for a moment of what we have in the New

128 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST BASED ON THE

Testament Scriptures. Think of the grandeur of the
New Testament. Here God Himself is revealed
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and for this reason it
is that in the New Testament you find so often the
expression used, " Before the foundation of the
world," because the New Testament, in this differing
from the Old Testament, goes back to the eternal
counsel of God, and shows us what was in the depth
of God's mind when, in Christ Jesus as the Lamb,
He chose the Church in order to show forth all His
glory and all His praise. God is light, God is love,
God Himself is made manifest to us in the New
Testament.

And as this New Testament possesses such a
wonderful grandeur and majesty, it possesses also a
marvellous simplicity. What can be more simple
than the words of Jesus and the exposition of the
apostles ? The very word " Jesus " is a summing
up in the simplest form of all God's announce-
ments and promises in the Old Testament. That
name which was never mentioned as the name
of the Messiah in the Old Testament, sums up
everything that God has promised to His people.
Or take that expression, " The Lamb in the midst
of the throne." Here you have all the sacrifices ;
here you have the predictions of Isaiah ; here you
have the still clearer and more condensed explana-
tion of the prophet Zechariah when he speaks about
the priest being set on the throne, — and it is all
summed up in the most lucid and sweet manner,
" The Lamb in the midst of the throne." Greater is
the majesty of the New Testament, and still greater
is its simplicity.

Think again how compact it is. After all it is

OLD TESTAMENT— THE NEW TESTAMENT \-ic)

in a very small compass. The New Testament is
not a large book, and the period of history which
it has to sum up only comprises a few years. In
three years Jesus finished His earthly ministry,
and only twenty years sum up the history of the
book of Acts. How easily it is read and how easily
it is remembered.

And lastly, I would say about the New Testament,
although in it God Himself is revealed, — a more
glorious revelation of God than the Incarnation,
even eternity will not bring. A more stupendous
sacrifice of divine love than the death of Jesus on
the cross, eternity will not unfold. A more wonderful
mystery than the indwelling of the Spirit of God in
the Church of Christ, we can never witness.

Although the majesty of the New Testament is
exceedingly great, the manner of its inspiration is
exceedingly human and exceedingly homely ; for
not, as in the Old Testament, was the Spirit of God
as it were outside the prophets, so that they had to
search diligently, what the Spirit that was in them
did signify. The Spirit now abiding within the
hearts of the apostles, their testimony came, so to
speak, in the most personal and subjective way.
As Christ says, " The Spirit shall testify and ye also
shall testify." Their own individuality is allowed
the freest and fullest scope, which is manifest
from this simple circumstance that nearly all the
books of the New Testament are letters. The
gospel of Luke is a letter. The gospel of John is
a letter. The book of Acts is a letter. And then
comes a great number of epistles, and even in the
book of Revelation we see the form of a letter.

Heart to heart, mouth to mouth, man to man, —
K

I30 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST BASED ON THE

speaks in this book. Think for a few moments of
what we have in the New Testament. The Jews
possessed in the Old Testament all that they required
as a nation — the history and origin of Israel — all
God's dealings with them, all God's teaching for
them, and all the plans of God for their future, — all
are contained in the Old Testament, so that Israel
as a nation requires no more ; and therefore the Old
Testament to a certain extent is more difficult to
understand and is larger in its outlines, because it
has not yet served its full purpose, for, in the later
ages, the Jews will have occasion to go to the Old
Testament as they have never gone to it before, in
order to see what is the will of God concerning
them in those latter days, when God begins again to
deal with the remnant of Jacob.

In the New Testament we have the four gospels,
the history of Christ on earth, — His sufferings, death,
and resurrection.

First there is the gospel of Matthew, connecting
the New with the Old Testament, showing how the
promises were fulfilled in Jesus ; and as Matthew
himself had been a publican, what was more natural
than that he should treasure up all those sayings and
acts of Christ, in which Christ showed that His
righteousness was different from that of the scribes
and Pharisees, and that his idea of the Messiah was
different from that entertained in those days by
the Jews. It is the humility of Jesus that strikes
us in the gospel of Matthew.

Then comes Mark, evidently written under the
influence of the apostle Peter, an eye-witness, and
therefore there are so many graphic details as if he
were a painter ; an car-witness, and therefore we have

OLD TESTAMENT— THE NEW TESTAMENT 131

the words, " Talitha cumi " ; " cphthatha," " eloi, cloi,
lama sabacthani," — as if he was still hearing and
seeing the things, showing to us the energy of Christ,
declaring the gospel by word and by deed.

Then we have the gospel of Luke written under
the influence of the apostle Paul, — Luke the historian
showing what Christ is, not merely to the Jews but
to the whole world, not merely the Son of David,
but the Son of Man, Saviour of sinners, physician of
the sick, — free grace abounding to the poor and the
needy. This connects the gospel with the whole
history of the Church in the future, as Matthew
connected it with Israel in the past.

Then there is the gospel of John which is neither
of the past nor the present nor the future, but of all
eternity, and shows us Christ as the Son of God in
the bosom of the Father, — and the whole life, suffer-
ings, death and resurrection of Christ illumined by the
light of eternity — both the counsel of God and also
the consummation when there will be the everlasting
separation between Christ's people and the world.

This foundation is like the five books of Moses,
describing the fundamental dealings of God ; the
former with Israel, — the latte^ with both Israel and
the Gentiles.

Then comes the book of Acts — connecting as it
were the gospels with the rest of the New Testa-
ment, like the head with the rest of the body, and
showing how the gospel began in Israel, how it
afterwards went to Samaria, and how then it went
to the Gentiles, and ending not merely with the fact
but with the condition of things, namely, the gospel
among the Gentiles, Paul yet testifying to the Jews
in Rome.

132 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST BASED ON THE

Then come the wonderful epistles. What was
more natural than that the apostles should write to
their congregations, when they were separated from
them, teaching them, warning them, explaining to
them the manifold errors and heresies which were
creeping in. We have the apostle Paul with his
fourteen epistles, all, as it were, originating in the most
natural way. We may say that these are occasional
epistles. Thus the human and historical elements
appear in the most natural manner. Historically
they give us a picture of the Church of Christ in the
beginning ; and every kind of heresy, both Jewish
and pagan, both theoretical and practical, are in
these epistles shown and refuted, so that the Church
of Christ requires nothing more, either for exposition
or for polemics.

If we look again at these epistles in reference to
the doctrine : — ^The epistle to the Romans shows us
how Christ is righteousness and life ; the epistle
to the Galatians shows us the same thing, — how
Christ is righteousness and life, but shows further
how law and gospel, flesh and spirit, cannot be
combined. Higher still we rise in the epistles
to the Ephesians and to the Colossians, where the
centre is Christ. They may be called Christological
epistles. In the Ephesians we see the Church in
Christ from all eternity elect in Christ, redeemed in
Christ, adopted in Christ, called in Christ, and
raised to be with Christ in heavenly places, whereas
in Colossians we stand upon earth, and the apostle
tells us of the glory of Christ and draws from it this
inference : If Christ is this glorious being in whom
dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and who
is the substance of all types, then you who belong to

OLD TESTA MENl'^THE NEW TESTAMENT 133

Christ must never think of righteousness or sanctifi-
ca'tion produced by any earthly thing, — " Touch not,
taste not, handle not " ; but must seek the things
that are above, — the righteousness, the merit, the
fulness, the power of Christ who is at the right
hand of God. Or if we look again at Thessa-
lonians, there we have prophetic truth ; or at the
epistles to Timothy and Titus, there we have
practical questions regarding the Church, simplicity
of the Gospel against all artificial antinomian cor-
ruption and caricature of the truth as it is in
Jesus ; or at Corinthians, — there we have the sim-
plicity which is in Christ Jesus, the love which
alone edifieth, while wisdom and knowledge puff
up, and the representation that Christ is everything
in the Church, and that in Him is our life and our
strength.

The epistles of the apostle Paul are, as it were,
confirmed by the epistles of John ; they are con-
firmed also by the epistles of Peter. Peter looks upon
the Church of Christ, as between the first advent
and the second advent, — strangers and pilgrims here
below, — exhorting them to hold fast to the hope.
He sees Christ coming for the consolation of His
people. He sees Christ coming also for judgment
upon them that are ungodly and that reject the Gospel.
The relation of these two aspects of the coming
he now explains ; and because at the time that he
wrote the 2nd epistle, the Church had become
lukewarm, and many false teachers had crept in,
the tone of that epistle is different. In the ist
epistle he knew that the Christians were holding
fast the hope. In the 2nd epistle he had to urge
them strongly to hold fast the hope, and therefore

134 THE. CHURCH OF CHRIST BASED ON THE

he shows them the importance of the sure word of
prophecy. The epistle of James gives us a picture
of the earhest condition of the Jewish Church. The
epistle of Jude warns us against the latest and yet
future inroad of grievous blasphemy and error ; and
lastly we have in the book of the Apocalypse
the revelation which God gave to Jesus Christ, — a
manifestation of Christ's glory itself, a description
of the Church of Christ in this dispensation, of the
great events of the latter days, of the advent of our
Saviour, of the establishment of His kingdom, and of
the victory over Satan, and, finally, of the beginning
of that period which shall have no end.

Everything that the Church can require is con-
tained in this wonderful collection of books which
we are in the habit of calling the New Testament.

Let me briefly point out to you a very import-
ant element, namely, that all these books are one
book. There is no discordance between the gospels
and the epistles. There is a most shallow view,
constantly propounded nowadays, when people say
that they would rather listen to what Christ says in
the gospels than to what is written in the epistles of
the apostles. The Holy Ghost alone could bring
to the remembrance of the apostles the things that
Christ had spoken, — and the reason why Christ
did not tell the apostles all that is in the epistles
was not because he was not able to do so, but be-
cause they were not able to bear it ; but besides
Christ told them everything in germ, although, in
Jerusalem, and afterwards, all was more fully revealed.
Everything that the apostles taught was con-
tained in the teaching of our blessed Saviour, nor
did the apostle Peter in any way contradict the

OLD TESTAMENT— THE NEW TESTAMENT 135

apostle Paul, nor was there any difference of view of
the truth, only different aspects of the truth brought
out, in accordance with the different graces and gifts
bestowed upon the apostles ; but all their writings
are harmonious, and he who does not receive the
words of the apostles rejects Jesus Himself, even as
he who rejects Jesus rejects the Father. "He that
heareth you heareth me," not " heareth as it were
me," but Christ Himself speaks in the apostolic
word ; and so we find that the apostles knew when
they wrote that their writings had a distinct authority.
" I beseech you that this epistle be read of all
saints," says the apostle. " These things are written
that your joy may be full." The Apocalypse itself,
we may say, is the very word of the Father given
to Jesus Christ, and the apostle Peter speaks of
the epistles of Paul as collected already, and
as on an equality with the other scriptures, liable
to be misunderstood by those who do not seek
in humility and earnestness of heart. But at
first, although these individual churches greatly
valued the epistles that were sent to them, and
although the greatest part of the New Testament —
namely, the four Gospels and the Acts, all the
epistles of the apostle Paul (with the exception of
the epistle to the Hebrews), the ist epistle of Peter,
and the ist epistle of John, and the book of the
Apocalypse — was acknowledged, from the begin-
ning, by all the churches, there were other epistles
which were known and acknowledged in the congrega-
tions to which they were originally sent. It took
some time before the other churches were fully con-
vinced of their apostolic authority, and added them
to the canon.

136 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST BASED ON THE

Yet this question has been most satisfactorily
cleared up. The western churches, looking upon
the apostle Paul as their apostle, divided all the
books in the New Testament which they possessed
into what they called gospel and epistle ; that means
the four gospels and the Acts, and the writings of
the apostle Paul and the Apocalypse and the ist
epistle of John. In the east there was no doubt
as to the epistle to the Hebrews being apostolic,
and also written by the apostle Paul. The 2nd
and the 3rd epistles of John being addressed to
individuals, took some time, as was natural, before
they were recognised as of general church authority.
Still, nearly all the books in the New Testament
are referred to in the year 150, by authorised
and well-known teachers of the Church ; and during
all the previous period the reading of the Old Testa-
ment was constantly maintained in the meetings of
the Christians.

And now I come to a point, where it is neces-
sary to speak plainly — namely, that antiquity has
no authority to us as regards matters of faith,
because immediately after the death of the apostles
there was a most marked deterioration in all the
churches, so that when we compare the writings
which were produced immediately after the death
of the apostles with the writings of the New
Testament, there is not the slightest difficulty in
perceiving that we are breathing a very differ-
ent atmosphere. There is no longer the fulness
of apostolic testimony and the light of God, but
human error and weakness, and I might say even
childishness, mixed up with the leading truths
of salvation ; so that those who are called the

OLD TESTAMENT— THE NEW TESTAMENT 137

apostolic fathers are of no authority to us ; — and
although they were diligent in reading the Old
Testament, and fully believed in its divine authority,
they did not fully understand it, for the simple
reason that from this very early period there began
that deterioration which afterwards developed in
the papacy. They did not know Christ as our
only righteousness, but looked upon Him rather
as a new law -giver, so that the Old Testament
was viewed by them as a preparatory law and
the New Testament as the real law. Even the
sacriiices they did not understand in their typical
meaning. The great importance of the Old Testa-
ment to them was that it furnished proof of the
divinity of Jesus because it foretold His coming,
and also because — the whole ancient Church was
clear upon this point — it foretold the return of
Jesus. That was the point most deeply im-
pressed upon their minds and upon their hearts, and
therefore we find more quotations from the book
of the Apocalypse in the first four centuries than
from any other book. Most melancholy is it to
note how, from the fourth century to the time of
the Reformation, the glimpses of light, of truth,
and of evangelical liberty are exceedingly rare. It
happened to the Church as it happened to the Jews.
The Jews had the Word of God, but they made it
void by the traditions of the elders. The Jews had
revealed in the Old Testament righteousness by faith,
but they sought a righteousness by their own works.
The Jews not merely thought that they could
keep the law, but they thought they could do more
than keep the law, and therefore invented works of
supererogation. Exactly what happened to the Jews

138 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST BASED ON THE

happened to the Church, it having again tradition
— it having righteousness by works — and therefore,
instead of the clearness and sweetness of the Gospel,
the spirit of bondage again to fear.

Not only so, but in exact opposition to the Word
of God : Christ was obscured. Instead of Christ
bearing the love of God to the chief of sinners,
there were now mediators required between the
sinner and that awful and terrible judge Jesus Christ.
Christ was no longer seen as the prophet, because the
Scripture was made of none effect, and the authority
of the Church was set up instead. Christ was no
longer seen as the priest, for if Christ is the priest
he is the only priest, with the exception of all be-
lievers who are a priesthood in Him. His sacrifice
as complete — requires no renewal or supplementation.
Christ was no longer seen as the king. He alone
has authority, being the head of the body from whom
all life flows directly into the members, and who
shall come again in glory. The Church of Rome
said, " Lo, I sit as a queen and am rich and powerful,"
and it sought to establish a church kingdom, which
is a contradiction in terms. Of course, blessed be
God, there were many who believed in Jesus during
these periods. There were many glorious teachers
in the Church. There were many who, although
they taught error, were also firmly based upon
the foundation which is Christ. There were many
who protested against the errors of Rome, and who
had to suffer martyrdom on account of their faith-
fulness. But as a whole it was the period of dark-
ness. Why are people so astonished about the
history of the Old Testament with its long cen-
turies of darkness and of apostasy, when so many

OLD TESTAMENT— THE NEW TESTAMENT 139

centuries of the Church of Christ form an exact
parallel ?

But now, let us look to the great change. What
is that movement of the Reformation which, I am
sorry to say, even among those who keep themselves
separate from the Church of Rome, is so little under-
stood, and so very languidly acknowledged ? The
Reformation was not an ecclesiastical movement, as if
the chief question had been the authority of the Pope,
The Reformation was not a philosophical movement,
as if the question had been the emancipation of
the human mind. The Reformation was not a
political movement, as if its chief importance had
been the introduction of liberty into the kingdoms
of Europe, tyrannised over, as they had been,
by the papacy. The Reformation was the power
of the Holy Ghost and nothing less. That
self-same Spirit who had been in the Church, who
had watched over the Church all these centuries
notwithstanding her darkness and her apostasy, was
now working mightily in the hearts, consciences,
and minds of many men, and this was the great
question that was engrossing their thoughts — " How
can we have certainty of salvation and of communion
with God ?" That had been the question for cen-
turies in the Church, and no clear answer had been
given to it. Nothing will teach a man but the Holy
Ghost, — no experience, no reading, no knowledge, no
tradition. The Holy Ghost alone glorifies Jesus.
We can do nothing. When the Holy Ghost comes,
it is then the time for us to yield ourselves to Him.
Augustine, from his own experience, and by the teach-
ing of the Holy Ghost, knew the power of sin and
the utter impotence of nature to enable a man to

I40 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST BASED ON THE

save himself. He also knew the power of grace.
Bernard of Clairvaux entered still farther into the
truth as it is in Jesus. At first sight it might appear
that he was rather departing from the doctrine of
justification. He started with this point : "We can
do nothing pleasing to God unless we are branches
grafted in the vine " ; that was the fundamental idea
of " the good " of mediaeval mysticism — that there is
nothing good in thought, word, or work, unless it be
wrought out by the influence of Jesus Christ Himself
But then he entered into this question : " How can I
be a branch of the vine, if I have not the assurance
of the forgiveness of sins ? The feeling of dread
and fear is a barrier between me and Jesus,"
And therefore much more clearly than any of the
Church teachers did Bernard of Clairvaux say this.
These are his words — " It is by God's righteousness
that in Christ Jesus he forgives our sins." And when
the Reformers through reading the Scriptures, follow-
ing the guidance of the Holy Ghost in their hearts
and consciences, saw that Jesus was the full salvation
of God to every one that believeth, it was then that
the authority and true character both of the Old and
New Testaments were fully manifested to their minds,
so that the two doctrines — the Bible alone, and Christ
Jesus alone — went hand in hand, and nobody could
say which came first and which came second.
They really came simultaneously. It was by finding
God in Christ that they found that the Scripture and
the Scripture alone was the Word of God.

The authority of Scripture was acknowledged as a
theory in all the churches. It was only that horrible
Council of Trent that made it a doctrine that tradition
was of equal importance with the Word of God, and

OLD TESTAMENT— THE NEW TESTAMENT 141

that introduced again the Apocrypha which all the
ancient Church had condemned as no part of the
Word of God. During all the centuries preceding
the Reformation there was not the slightest dispute
as to the fact that the Scripture was the Word of
God and the only authority. There is a very won-
derful illustration of this in one of the splendid manu-
scripts on parchment, preserved in the library in
Paris — a manuscript of the orations of Gregory of
Nazianzen. There is frequently an illustration at the
beginning of a chapter. One represents the Council
at Constantinople in the year 381. It met to judge
the doctrine of Macedonius about the procession of
the Holy Ghost, and of Apollonius about the will of
Christ. The bishops are seated in a semicircle ;
the emperor Theodosius is also there ; but in the
middle of this semicircle there is a throne. Neither
emperor nor bishop is sitting on that throne. On
that throne there lies the roll of the Holy Scripture.
The idea of this picture must have originated at
the end of the fourth century. What could be a
more striking proof that, the Council held, that
nothing was to decide doctrine or faith but the
Scripture ? But to hold the t'aith in theory and to
hold it in heart — conviction and experience, — are
two different things.

Now what did the Reformation do ? First, it
said the Scripture is the only authority, because it
alone is the Word of God. Tradition gives us only
the opinions and views of men.

And besides tradition there was also a great
element of rationalism in the Church of Rome ; in
fact several popes and many cardinals were down-
rijjht infidels who did not believe in the historical

142 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST BASED ON THE

facts about Christ or even in the resurrection. Martin
Luther said — and I do not think he ever said any-
thing better or more important — " The Church of
Rome is founded not upon the rock of Scripture,
but upon human reasoning. It is a rationahstic
Church." And this is another saying of Luther
and exceedingly pregnant — " Up to this time, we
have been taught in our schools and colleges that
nobody can be a theologian unless he begins
with Aristotle " — (that is, with metaphysics) —
" and I say that nobody can be a theologian unless
he first gets rid of Aristotle ; " that is to say, that
Scripture has its own teaching and its own philo-
sophy, and that we must not take human philosophy
and apply it to the judgment and exposition of the
Word of God.

The Scripture is the Word of God. The Scripture
is the only revelation in which God makes known to
us the things concerning our salvation. Therefore
we must listen to nothing else.

The second point was this : — The Scripture has
a centre, and that is Christ. Once we understand
this centre we understand everything. Now we
understand the law that it is a schoolmaster to
bring us unto Christ. Now we understand the
prophets that they predicted Christ. Now we
understand the apostles, that they explained the
person and work of Christ. Now we understand the
patriarchs and David and all the saints, that their
experience was that, where sin abounded unto death,
only grace could abound unto eternal life. There-
fore now the whole Scripture is but one. Your
traditions, your philosophies, your explanations, can
never be harmonised and reconciled. They have

OLD TESTAMENT—THE NEW TESTAMENT 143

no unity, they have no centre, because Christ is
the centre of all unity, and Christ is the centre of
the Scripture.

Third point : We are sure that we are saved when
we believe in Christ according to the Scriptures.
You, Church of Rome, have never given us any
certainty. You are like a kind, of insurance society
telling us that we ought to credit you and that you
promise us, — and you cannot promise us with any
certainty. Not even after death. There is the
vague, illimitable stretch of purgatory. This kind of
feeling of safety, or of thinking we have done the
best thing that can be done, is not what the Scripture
gives us. God gives us assurance. Faith {?, fiducia,
trust, a placid conviction of the heart that Jesus
is our Saviour. That was the very nerve of the
Reformation. What is the reason that the old
Catholic movement in our present day can never
come to anything, unless it pleases God to give more
of His Holy Spirit to the men that are engaged in
it ? It does not speak to the conscience ; it does
not speak to the heart ; it does not show the fulness
of salvation in Jesus ; and after all, all other blessings
are secondary. That for which the Church of Christ
exists is — to stand aside and let the full light and
love of Christ flow into the heart of every poor and
trembling sinner.

The next point the Reformation proclaimed was
this : The Scripture is its own authority. We do
not believe in the Scripture because you guarantee it.
A Romanising clergyman once said to me, " And
who has given you the Scripture ? " Who has given
me the Scripture ? I know who has given me the
Scripture. The synagogue has given me the Old

144 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST BASED ON THE

Testament, and am I therefore to deny that Jesus is
the Messiah ? Because the synagogue has given
me the Old Testament, am I bound to -interpret
the Old Testament with their blindness ? I am
thankful that it has given me the Old Testament,
but it has no authority to interpret to me the
Old Testament. And as for the Church that has
given me the New Testament, I am thankful to the
Church that has given me the New Testament. But
the authority of the Church in interpreting the New
Testament, specially when it says exactly the
opposite to what is written in the New Testament,
certainly no Christian can acknowledge, for the
Scripture is very simple and plain.

The next point proclaimed by the Reformation
was the perspicacity of Scripture. There are many
difficulties in the Bible, but they arc as great difficulties
to the learned as they are to .the unlearned. In the
Church of Christ there is no distinction. These things
are written for all the children of God, and if we do
not understand everything we must wait till it pleases
God to make it plain to us, and perhaps it will
never be made plain to us ; but all that is profitable
and necessary and salutary and enjoyable is plain to
the Christian. I admit that the Bible is very obscure
to two classes of people. The Bible is very obscure
to those who wish to find in the Bible what is not
there. If you wish to find that there are many
mediators and intercessors between God and man, it
will be very difficult to find it in the Bible. If you
wish to find the Virgin Mary seated upon a
heavenly throne, you may read the whole New
Testament carefully ; you will find the Virgin Mary
mentioned in the ist chapter of the book of Acts

OLD TESTAMENT— THE NEW TESTAMENT 145

with the other disciples and women, praying for the
Holy Ghost's advent ; and in the book of the
Apocalypse there are the four living beings, and
there are the twenty-four elders, and there are the
multitude of those that have washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb — but
any special mention of the Virgin Mary you will not
find there. Therefore the Bible is very obscure on
that ground. The Bible is also very obscure if you
want to find in it all those doctrines of righteous-
ness by works, and of penances and saints and the
worship of angels and such things. If we wish to
find in the Bible what is not there, the Bible is very
obscure. And if we are determined not to find in
the Bible what is in the Bible, the Bible is also very
obscure. Oh, what difficulties have those rationalists
had ! They did not wish to find in the Bible the
divinity of Jesus. They did not wish to find in the
Bible the substitution in the death of Christ. They
did not wish to find in the Bible the necessity of
regeneration. They afterwards did not wish to find
in the Bible anything miraculous. Oh, it was
exceedingly difficult to explain the Bible, until at
last a man like Strauss came and said, " Now what
is the use of deceiving yourselves and deceiving the
world and being simply jugglers ? You do not
believe it, and it is much better to say that you do
not believe it and there is no explaining it. It is
simply a mythical representation of ideas." But if
we are willing to find in the Bible what is in the
Bible, the Bible is simple. And the Reformers said,
" The Bible is abundant. We do not want anything
more. What are all your silly stories and legends
of saints who did not know what the real point was

L

146 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST BASED ON THE

between God and the sinner ? We do not want them
when we have the Ufe of Abraham, when we have
the Psalms of David, when we have the experience
of the apostle Paul. As for your little command-
ments about eating meat on Friday and all the
things that you have invented, we do not want them
when we have the beautiful ten commandments of
God, and all the law of Moses, and the precepts of
the apostles, and the Sermon on the Mount. As for
your sifting people, — trying to find out all the sins
they have committed, — we do not want it, for the
Bible is a sharp and two-edged sword, and there is
no other father confessor but the Scripture that will
search and probe the conscience. We want nothing.-
The Bible is God's Word and 'profitable for doctrine,
for correction, for instruction, for reproof, that the
man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished
unto every good work.' " That is what they said.

But they also said that there were to be in the
Church teachers and pastors, for the explanation of
the Bible. The Reformers acknowledged that people
require guidance, — and this is the great object of
the ministry — not to perform ceremonies and not
to call themselves " priests," but to be expositors of
Scripture ; and not merely expositors of Scripture,
but also men who are able to apply the Scriptures.
The man who said " How can I understand unless
some one guide me ? " was quite right. This is a
favourite text with the Romanists who tell us, " Do
not circulate the Scriptures. How can people under-
stand them ? They do not know what they say."
" How can I understand unless some one guide me ? "
Yes, quite true. When the evangelist Philip had
explained to the Ethiopian that Jesus died for our

OLD TESTAMENT— THE NEW TESTAMENT 147

sins and rose again for our justification, he guided
him. He had given him the key. " Now you can
understand the Scripture." And then Philip was
taken away from him, and yet the Ethiopian went
on rejoicing, with the prophet Isaiah in his hand and
with the key that opens the prophet Isaiah. The
Church in the person of Philip had fulfilled her
mission and laid the foundation. When the Church
of Rome will preach Jesus, it will find out that this
is the way in which people are guided to understand
the Scriptures themselves.

But the great point which we must put, and
which the Reformers were foremost in bringing before
people was the necessity of the Holy Ghost. The
Holy Ghost uses the Scripture. We do not rely
upon the Scripture in itself. We rely upon the
Holy Ghost who, by the Scripture, enlightens the
mind and persuades the heart to accept Christ as
offered to us in God's Word. And therefore it was
the unanimous teaching of all the Reformers that
the basis, upon which our certainty of Scripture
being the Word of God rests, is the testimony of
the Holy Ghost.

And now, dear friends, I must conclude with this
one word. The apostle was anxious that all the
churches should enter fully into the knowledge of
God's counsel. That was his constant prayer to
God. He therefore expected, that not merely by
teaching but by prayer, he would indoctrinate the
people whom he loved. Oh, what a lesson is given
both to ministers and people to seek continually the
light of the guidance of the Holy Spirit ; and the
object of the Holy Spirit is given in the words,
" He shall glorify me." To bring us to Jesus, to

148 CHURCH OF CHRIST BASED ON OLD TESTAMENT

give us peace and joy through faith in Jesus, and
to keep us in Jesus faithful to our Saviour and
obedient to our heavenly Father — this is the object
of the Spirit, acting through the Scriptures. May
God grant these gifts unto each one of us.

VIII

PRESENT ASPECTS OF DOUBT AND UNBELIEF
AS REGARDS THE SCRIPTURE

Present aspects of doubt and unbelief — No true understanding of
Scripture in its living power unless by the Spirit — Revelation
a connected chain in which link gives strength to link — Strik-
ing resemblance between history of Jewish nation from Moses
to Ezra and of Christian Church from its beginning to the
Reformation — ^ Nothing had developed in the Church except decay —
All was perfect at first— It might as well be said that Galatians
was written by Luther, as Deuteronomy by llilkiah in Josiah's
period — The Reformation, like every great revival, soon lost much
of its first power— Rationalism and deism assailed theChurch ; these
merged afterwards into pantheism, and then into materialism —
Pantheistic attempt to explain New Testament — Its failure —
The true position of reason as receptive, not creative.

I WISH this morning to lay before you my views
on the present aspects of doubt and unbeHef as
regards the Scripture. The words which Jesus Christ
addressed to the Sadducees when he said " God is
not the God of the dead, but of the Hving " apply also
to Scripture. It is impossible for us to have a true
understanding of Scripture unless the Word of God
is living within us. They who stand on the shore
may take an objective view of a ship, but they only
who are in the ship are carried along by the current
of the mighty river. And thus the Scripture, while
in one respect it has to be viewed as the revelation

I50 PRESENT ASPECTS OF DOUBT AND UNBELIEF

which God sent from above, may hkewise be viewed
as the diary of the congregation, the record which
the congregation keeps of the deahngs of God and of
His words and promises to her. There is a river the
source of which is in eternity, as revealed to us in
the New Testament, the visible and timely source of
which is in the Garden of Eden, where God gave
the first promise of redemption ; and this river must
flow on until it enter the ocean of blessedness and
glory, at the appearing of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, In this river of the history of redeem-
ing love, prophets and apostles sent by God from
time to time and entrusted with His message are
above us, being the representatives of the divine
mind ; but in another respect we are on a level with
them. Our fellowship is with the fellowship of prophets
and apostles, and the same life which animates them
animates our spirits also.

The continuity of Scripture as of a river is a point
of the greatest importance, for revelation does not con-
sist in oracles and prophecies given from time to time
without any connection, but it is one connected and
united chain, in which link gives strength to link.
And thus it is that unless Moses had believed in the
God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, he could not
have received the new revelation of Jehovah and of
the covenant which He was about to make with His
people. Every prophet refers back to the past until,
at last, in John the Baptist the whole law and
prophets are raised up again and appear to us con-
centrated in his voice, for he reproduced the Old
Testament Scriptures knowing that the ist l\salm
and the 40th chapter of Isaiah and the 3rd
chapter of the prophet Malachi were incarnate in

AS REGARDS THE SCRIPTURE 151

Jesus ; and all those of Israel who accepted the testi-
mony of John the Baptist were thereby directly
in ' the current both of the Scripture history and
of the Scripture books. And thus was it also with
the disciples of Jesus when He told them that the
Scriptures referred to Himself, and when, after His
resurrection. He opened their understanding, so that
they understood the Scriptures and remembered the
words which He had spoken to them. They were
immediately in possession of the whole Scripture,
whilst the scribes and the Pharisees, with all their
traditional law and exegetical skill, stood outside the
Scripture, on the shore. They were not carried
along by the river ; they did not know the name
" Jehovah " in its power and in its blessedness.

The Scriptures are finished, but the Spirit by
whose guidance the Scriptures were -written is still
watching over them, and the history of the Bible,
during the last eighteen centuries, throws the most
wonderful light upon the history which is recorded in
Scripture itself. God, the Creator, after He had
finished the heavens and the earth did not leave
creation to itself He is still upholding all things by
the word of His power. "My FE.ther worketh hitherto
and I work." Jesus the Saviour, after He had laid the
foundation of the Church by His incarnation, death,
and resurrection, did not leave the Church to itself
He is Immanuel. " I am with you alway, even unto
the end of this age." And the Holy Ghost, by whom
the Scriptures came into existence, did not leave
them after they were finished, but still breathes in
them and breathes through them the breath of life
and of everlasting blessedness.

Therefore if we compare the history of the Church

152 PRESENT ASPECTS OF DOUBT AND UNBELIEF

of Christ up to the time of the Reformation with
the history of the Jewish nation from Moses until
the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, we find a
most striking resemblance. During the first four
centuries the Church of Christ, suffering great per-
secution even unto death, was kept in an attitude
of faith and of living hope ; but no sooner had
Christianity overcome heathenism outwardly, than
heathenism began to corrupt and to modify
Christian doctrine and Christian life, just as it had
been with the Jews, who, when they had received the
fulness of divine revelation, when Jehovah had made
known His name to them, and given to them the
fiery law upon Mount Sinai, immediately fell into
the idolatry of the golden calf; and the whole sub-
sequent period was only a series of apostasy and
idolatry and world-conformity, lit up occasionally by
gleams of revival, — the people being remembered in
great mercy by God, when He sent to them judges
and prophets to testify for Him. But what had the
judges and the prophets to do but to refer back
again to that perfect revelation which God had
given to them, in Moses ? And if it had not been
for that revelation through Moses, and for a written
record of that revelation which was acknowledged to
be authentic, Samuel and all the prophets would have
been utterly helpless and without strength, in the
face of an idolatrous and sinful nation. The pro-
phets were not men of genius who anticipated the
future, and who therefore could only be understood
by a few chosen members of their nation ; the
prophets, instead of being leaders in advance of their
age, pointed back to the ages that were behind.
Their watchword was not " Excelsior." Their watch-

AS REGARDS THE SCRIPTURE 153

word was " Repentance." " Seek ye out the old
paths." " Remember the law which my servant
Moses gave unto you on Mount Horeb." And
so it was with the Reformation. Just as Ezra
and Nehemiah stood between Moses and the first
advent, the Reformers stood between Christ and the
second advent. What they did was this. Leaving
tradition and philosophy, they went back again to
the New Testament revelation. Nothing can be
added to that ; nothing must be taken away from
that ; and the greatest fallacy of all is to say as
is often said — that the doctrine of the apostles had
to be developed in the Church. Nothing had to be
developed in the Church. It was all perfect there ;
it was all complete there. God's thoughts, God's
ultimate message, philosophy must not modify,
philosophy must not attempt to 'defend or to
make palatable to the wisdom of men. Just as
the naturalist can do nothing to modify nature, but
must stand in the simple attitude of a child and an
observer, to see and to worship, and just as a man who
goes into mines, where gold and silver and precious
jewels are hid takes no money with him, but only
the capacity of receiving and treasuring up what he
may discover, so, for all ages, the New Testament
doctrine stands high as heaven above us, and we have
only to wait for the Holy Ghost to take, out of that
fulness, what it seems good to Him to reveal to us.

They reproduced the Word of God. This is what
I want to impress upon you. The Word of God is
written in Scripture, but it is a living word which
is also written by the Holy Ghost in the hearts
of His elect, and which they utter again. Take,
for instance, the Reformation testimony as it was

154 P^^ESENT ASPECTS OF DOUBT AND UNBELIEF

delivered by Luther. The whole epistle to the
Galatians is a perfect description of all that the
Reformation taught, and of all that the Reforma-
tion did. What is that epistle? There is only one
gospel. This gospel is not of man. It came down
from heaven. It is absolute truth. If even an
apostle Paul or an angel from heaven were to preach
another gospel, he would be excluded from the
kingdom of God. And this is the Gospel — that in
the fulness of time God sent His Son, born of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law, by being made a curse
for them, — and this substitution of Christ must
be received by faith, quite apart from the law, and
without any works. And the proof that it must be
received by faith, and by faith alone, is this — that no
good works can ever be produced by the law, for the
Holy Ghost never comes by the preaching of the
law, but by the preaching of the Gospel. Is this
then Luther's epistle ? A man might as plausibly
say that the epistle to the Galatians was written
by Luther, as many say nowadays that the book of
Deuteronomy was written, centuries and centuries,
after the death of Moses. When the Reformers,
having found Christ, and having found that the
only way of taking hold of Christ was by faith,
and that the one way of pleasing God and bring-
ing forth fruit unto eternal life was by the Holy
Ghost given by faith, and by faith only, — believing in
the truth of Scripture, they could not fail also to
believe the scripture of truth. And this was their
great testimony — that in producing the message of
Scripture they were able to speak from their own
experience, and with a divine certainty and assur-

AS REGARDS THE SCRIETURE 155

ancc. There were many philosophers, lovers of
literature, lovers of national liberty, who at first
joined the Reformation, but they were not of the
same spirit, nor had their testimony any beneficial
effect upon the progress of the Reformation. In
reference to Erasmus, Luther writes : " The Holy
Ghost is not sceptical. He does not write upon
our hearts objections and doubts, but convictions
more clear than that of our own existence and the
outer world that surrounds us." But while the
Reformers had thus tasted the old wine, and while
they thus had themselves imbibed the Scriptures so
that they reproduced them, — the current of the divine
word flowing again, — they taught all the people, high
and low, rich and poor, old and young, learned and
ignorant, that the Holy Ghost would be given to
every one that truly searched the Scriptures, and
that Scripture explained itself, so that it made
the whole Christian people independent of human
tradition and erudition. No longer did they depend
upon the fathers, and upon the consent of the fathers,
and upon all those things which keep the Bible at a
distance from the people.

It was natural that the Reformation should
dwell chiefly upon the Gospel, but the Reformation
had a wonderful insight into the whole Scripture,
and specially must we notice the great light
which was shed by it on the Old Testament, —
and this according to the nature of things. It
would have been impossible for the Reformers to
bring before the Church the truths of the New
Testament without going back to that which is the
foundation — Moses and the prophets. The first
reason of this is that the idea of God — the

156 rRESENT ASPECTS OF DOUBT AND UNBELIEF

fundamental idea of God — was the constant
thought and the constant soul exercise of Luther ;
for in the papacy the idea of God that he had
received was, in the first place, the metaphysical
idea — God infinite, God incomprehensible, God
dwelling in light that is unapproachable ; and this
divine majesty filled him with such misery and
terror that he was not able to approach with con-
fidence, for, as he says, not merely did his reason
not take hold of anything infinite, but his conscience
also was terrified by the idea of perfect and absolute
purity and justice. But when he read the Old
Testament, and especially the book of Psalms, he
found that the God that was revealed there is not
God, as He is in Himself in His absolute and
impenetrable darkness and perfection, but God who
condescends, who clothes Himself, as it were, in a
human form, who is full of mercy and compassion,
who reveals His name unto mankind that they may
be able to call upon Him, and who gives to them
the promise of absolute and ever-blessed redemption.
And therefore he says in his commentary on the
51st Psalm, "When David says 'Have mercy upon
me, O God,' he does not say 'O God' in the way in
which the Turks (that is the Unitarians) and the
hypocrites and the monks say ' O God,' knowing
only the absolute God as He is in Himself; but he
means the God who has promised to send Christ, the
God of all grace, of consolation, and of salvation."
Thus they had to go back to the Old Testament.

Secondly, they had to go back to the Old
Testament because the people no longer knew what
was the true nature of sin and what was the
true nature of godliness ; for since the papacy

.43 KEGARDS 7'HE SCRIPTURE 157

had invented its own commandments, stigmatising
things as sinful which God had never called sinful,
and giving forth, all round, precepts and command-
ments which were not spiritual in their characiter, it
was impossible for the Reformers to know what was
the will of God, both for themselves and for the
people, unless they looked into the bright mirror of
the law as revealed to us in Moses and the prophets.
That was the great consolation that Luther had
when he read the Psalms of David. Here were none
of those imaginary saints who in will-worship and
castigation of the flesh, and in doing a number of
useless and unprofitable things, fancied that they
were better than other people, and that they were
really bringing themselves nearer to God ; but here
he saw a man who, like himself, wished to be spiritu-
ally minded, and wished to have his" affections set
upon the things that pleased God, but who felt the
burden of sin and the snares of temptation, and
who therefore continually appealed to God that He,
by His grace and by His Spirit, might draw him into
fellowship with Himself

But thirdly, as I have already hinted by this last
sentence, the Reformers being deeply exercised, and
feeling continually the attacks of the world, the
temptations of Satan and the evil that was within
them, and striving against it, found in the Old Testa-
ment what they did not find in the New Testament
except only in germ and in principle — the whole
analysis and anatomy of the human heart, and such
a minute description of the road which we have
to travel, which is not always in a straight line, but
crooked and winding, — with all the different exercises
of the soul and of the mind, as described in the

158 PRESENT ASPECTS OF DOUBT AND UNBELIEF

life of Abraham, of Jacob, and of David, and in the
lives of all the prophets.

And lastly, you must notice that since the New-
Testament appeals to the Church, whose calling is a
heavenly one, and which is hastening through the
world unto the coming of the Lord Jesus, it can-
not dwell upon those principles of God's govern-
ment in the world, of His dealings with nations and
with families, that we find in the Old Testament ;
and therefore, whenever there is any great turnin'g-
point in the history of the nation, when there is any
great national calamity or national victory, — in all
such junctures we turn instinctively to the Old
Testament, for, there, in the history of Israel
we see the divine philosophy of all history, and
the principles which lie at the foundation of God's
dealings, in judgment and in mercy, with the
nations of the earth. Never, it may be said, since
the days of the apostles, had the scriptures of the
Old and New Testaments been expounded with so
much light, with so much spirituality, with so much
truth, and with so much experience, as by Luther
and Calvin. It was very natural for them to dwell
on the divine aspect of Scripture — that Scripture was
the Word of God, and that nothing was of authority
in the Church but the Scripture ; for on the one side
there was the Church of Rome with its theory of
tradition, and on the other side there were the philo-
sophers, the intuitionalists of their day, who said
that it was not the written word that was of the
highest authority and importance, but that it was
the inner consciousness, not the shell but the
kernel, not the letter but the spirit, making the
light which is within us judge and rejecter of the

AS KEGAKDS THE SCRIPTURE 159

things that are written. Against this heresy the Re-
formers contended with all their might. As Martin
Luther said, " Christ did not say, ' My Spirit is spirit,'
but ' My words are spirit and life.'" And as for the
separation of letter and spirit, of kernel and shell, it is
perfectly impossible for us to make such a separation ;
for the written Word, as we have it, is written by the
action and under the guidance of the Holy Ghost.

Another way in which they showed that they
dwelt chiefly on the divine aspect of Scripture was
that, instead of pointing out the diversities of Scrip-
ture, they dwelt rather upon its unity, showing that
Christ, the gospel of redemption, grace, faith, ran
through the whole Scripture from Genesis to the
book of Revelation. Quite true ; yet they did not
sufficiently bring into prominence that the Scripture
was given at sundry times and in divers manners,
and that, although the ultimate meaning of the
Holy Ghost was always the same, yet the under-
standing of men from the time of Abel and from
the time of David, and from the time of Isaiah
and from the time of John the Baptist, expanded
and grew under the guidance of the divine dealings
with them, so that they understood that, although
the Bible was God's Word, it was a divine treasure
in earthen vessels. They were fully aware of the
human character of Scripture. Luther in a preface
which he wrote to the Old Testament, and which
might have been written to-day, speaks of those who
say that they do not require the Old Testament any
longer, as they have got a much clearer and fuller
light in the New Testament, and says to them,
" Do not be offended when in this Old Testament
you meet with lowly and homely narratives, but be

i6o PRESENT ASPECTS OF DOUBT AND UNBELIEF

fully assured that notwithstanding this outward
lowly and homely appearance, you meet there no-
thing but the word and majesty and judgment and
mercy of the Most High, for thus it was with the
dear child Jesus, who was found in the manger
wrapped up in very mean and homely clothes."

According to a very sad law which we must
observe in all the history of God's people, re-
vivals like gleams of sunshine, like sudden showers,
fertilising and refreshing, are short - lived and
transient in their duration. Such were the revivals
under Hezekiah, and under Josiah, and such was
the revival under the Reformers. It is not orthodoxy
that overcometh the world. It is our faith that
overcometh the world. After a time of dead ortho-
doxy there began rationalism, and this is the second
movement which has influenced our present state,
as regards our attitude to the Bible.

Only a few words in regard to this movement.
The former rationalistic interpretation of Scripture
could only be understood, by the view which it took
of man and of man's salvation. It confirms what I
have been endeavouring to impress upon you in
this address — that in proportion as we believe the
things that are in Scripture, shall we have a clear under-
standing of the authority and position of the Scripture.
The man on the shore cannot understand the authority
of Scripture. You must be in the ship, one with the
apostles and the prophets, and carried along by the
self-same living river, in order to understand it. A
rationalist argued in this way. Not believing in the
fall and in the sinfulness of man as the Bible
explains them, he said, " Man does not require a
salvation, coming from God in a supernatural way.

AS REGARDS THE SCRIPTURE i6i

He has within himself all the resources which are
necessary for his enlightenment, for his elevation, and
fof his temporal and everlasting blessedness. By
the light of reason he can discover God, and by an
effort of will he can do the things which are right
and pleasing before God. He does not require a
divine Saviour ; he does not require an expiatory
sacrifice ; he does not require a regenerating Holy
Ghost. He has in himself everything that he
requires, but he must use and develop his powers."
As he does not require anything supernatural for
himself, it is clear that the Bible cannot be the
record of anything supernatural, because it is not
wanted. They still adhered to the Bible, partly
from reverence for it and the position which it had
held in Christendom, but now their great object
was to explain the Bible, in accordance with their
inward experience. Therefore Christ was only the
best of men. Christ's death was only the death
of martyrdom. The Holy Ghost did not mean
anything special, but the development of the human
mind and of the human conscience. It was only
by the greatest straining and by the most artificial
methods that such views could frame an inter-
pretation of Scripture ; and this soon became so
manifest that the whole world was disgusted with it,
for they said, " It is not true, it is not honest. A
revelation which reveals nothing is an absurdity."
And therefore, as the human mind progressed in
this direction, and as theism developed into pan-
theism and into materialism, the whole artificial and
rotten fabric of old rationalism fell to the ground,
not without having left deep traces which remain
on the minds of the nations, up to this day.

M

i62 PRESENT ASPECTS OF DOUBT AND UNBELIEF

When men gave up faith in God and faith in the
supernatural — when they started with the axiom in
short that miracle was impossible — this pantheistic
supposition was applied to the explanation of the New
Testament, for the Old Testament had been already
consigned to a very inferior and unimportant place.
It was by very ingenious theorising that the New
Testament was brought into harmony with the
pantheistic supposition. The historic reality of
Christ in the gospels was, of course, an impossibility.
The doctrine of the apostles did not flow from Christ ;
and in the same method as it is now maintained
that we ought not to say " Moses and the prophets,"
but that we ought to say " The prophets and Moses,"
it was shown that the narratives of the gospels were
myths, poetical garments woven in order to make
plain a spiritual story, and that what we call
" Christianity " was not the teaching of Christ, but
was gradually developed, especially by the apostle
Paul, and that after that development the New
Testament was formed in accordance with it ; and
this pantheistic theory has also left its deep impress
on the human mind. Men who have no liking for
metaphysics, but who are attracted by the world — I
mean by the outward — sink into materialism, that is
to say, they dwell only upon the things that are seen
and upon those second causes only which we can
observe and trace. The result of all this has been
to leave three impressions upon men's minds, and it
is upon these radical impressions that we must base
the difficulty which many have in believing in the
Scripture. There are a great many difficulties con-
nected with Scripture, but if there was strength
within, it would be able to overcome them all. It

AS REGARDS THE SCRIPTURE 163

is owing to the fundamental corruption of man
that the numerous difficulties appear to be in-
superable.

I would direct your attention to these three im-
pressions. The first is this : men have lost faith in
God. There was a time when men had faith in God,
and at that time they tried to find out arguments to
prove the existence of God. Then there came a time
when men's faith in God was not vital, but still they
adhered to the arguments for the existence of God.
There then came a time when they said that the
arguments for the existence of God were not cogent ;
and afterwards there came a time when they said that
the arguments were false, — and theism fell away into
pantheism and into materialism. Let me speak freely
upon this point. There is only one God, and that is
Jehovah, and there is no other God beside Him ; and
all the knowledge that the ancient nations had of
God was a reminiscence of that which had been
revealed to them. The living God, God who is
from everlasting to everlasting, God who takes an
interest in us, God who condescends to man, and
shows to him his salvation, ir a God whom human
reason cannot discover. We dwell upon second
causes. We do not rise to the only source and
origin. Scientific men acknowledge that both the
beginning and end of things are utterly beyond the
reach of science ; and what else is this but a corro-
boration of what God says, " I am the first and I
am the last."

The antipathy of men against the God who is
revealed to us in Scripture shows itself in their anti-
pathy to miracle and prophecy, for a living God, who
interferes by action, is a God that doeth wonders.

i64 PRESENT ASPECTS OF DOUBT AND UNBELIEF

and the living God who interferes by revelation is
a God that maketh known His mysteries to the
prophets whom He hath chosen.

The second impression is connected with the rela-
tion between reason and revelation. It is often said
that revelation is contrary to reason, but before that
position is discussed the question ought to be asked,
" Do we require a revelation ? Is there any necessity
for a revelation ? " The view of reason which God
gives us in His Word is this. He appeals to
reason. God often appeals to reason, for reason is
His work, and it is the light which He has kindled.
But the reason which God has given to man is not
sovereign and independent. It is not able to create
truth ; it is only able to receive truth. Adam was
created in the image of God unto knowledge, and
the knowledge which he possessed was not a know-
ledge which had its fountain in himself, — but he had
the capacity of receiving the knowledge as it was
delivered to him by God. Through the fall of man,
reason and the understanding have been blinded and
darkened. God addresses Himself to reason, but not
to reason alone, for reason does not exist in man,
isolated. God addresses Himself to all that is within
man, and the reason and the will meet in that centre
of humanity which is the heart. Therefore God
speaks to the heart, and the Bible says, " The fool
hath said in his heart that there is no God."

But, when God speaks to the reason. He brings
light with the word which He speaks. God does
not speak to the reason in the Socratic method,
under the idea that there is already in the reason
of man all that He wishes to bring out, and that
it needs only to be developed, but the entrance of

AS /^EGAA'DS THE SCRIPTURE 165

His Word itself giveth light, and the things which
God reveals by the Spirit enlarge the understanding
and raise it to a higher level. So that by faith we
understand that God has created the world. By
faith we receive the things which eye hath not seen
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man. Faith does not kill reason, nor is faith in
conflict with reason, nor is reason passive when it
receives the message of God. It is receptive. Still
there are many things of which we can take
hold, but cannot grasp round and round, — and
therefore did Lord Bacon say that the authority of
God extends over the whole man — over his reason
as well as his will ; and just as it is our duty to
obey the commandments of God when the will is
reluctant, so it is also our duty to believe the
revelation of God when the reason is reluctant.
Abraham is the emblem of faith which receives the
promises, while Sarah is the emblem of the reason
which mocks and does not receive the promises.
But if the revelation of God has taken possession
of us, our faith will always remain faith until we
come to that region where we shall see these things,
and know even as we are known.

But there is another thing to be remembered in
connection with this, and it is that reason cannot deal
with that which is life. It cannot understand birth.
It cannot understand the origination of anything. It
cannot understand the individual. Every individual
that you obtain knowledge of, — reason has nothing to
do with such knowledge, either one way or the other.
It is a new life that is made known to you. It is a
new individuality that comes into contact with you.
God is the only true " I Am," the only person ;

i66 PRESENT ASPECTS OF DOUBT AND UNBELIEF

and, when He reveals Himself to us, all that is
within us must keep silence, for the Lord God is in
His holy temple, and all that is within us — reason,
will, feeling — will be stirred up to magnify and praise
the name of the Lord.

There is a third impression, and it is also of great
importance, namely, the view that the generahty of
people take of this world as well as of themselves.
They think that it is a good world, and that it will
become better. What is the view which the Bible
takes of this world and of us ? That it is an evil world
and will become worse until the regeneration of all
things, and that we are bad because what is born of
the flesh is flesh, and therefore we must be born again.
Now, as a pantheist truly said, all human beings
are either Hebrews or Christians or Greeks. The
Hebrew is ascetic, spiritual, striving to get rid of the
outward, of the shadow, of the mere picture. The
Greek is joyous, loves the world, feels his strength,
boasts of his development, loves the things that are in
it, in all their serenity and in all their colouring. For
a long time people imagined that because Christianity
said that there was no difference between the Jew and
the Greek, and that all were one, Christianity did away
with the stern and the puritanical spirit of the Old
Testament ; but Christianity is yet more puritanical
than the Old Testament. As the Old Testament
said, " Thou shalt have no other God beside me,"
and " You are a chosen nation of God, and you
must not conform to the other nations " ; and as
the prophet Isaiah said that in the latter days the
name of the Lord alone should be exalted, and
every mountain and every cedar, and everything
that is lofty in spirit, should be swept away, and the

.•^.9 REGARDS THE SCRIPTURE 167

idols be utterly abolished, so says the New Testament,
" Ye are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world " ; " Love not the world " ; " All that is in the
world is not of the Father " ; " The whole world
lieth in wickedness " ; "We are strangers and pilgrims
here upon earth, and we are waiting for the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven." Now think
of this nineteenth century with its proud conscious-
ness of its strength, of its wealth, of its science, of
its culture, — with its worship of civilisation, and of
art, and of the beautiful. Is it not diametrically
opposed to the very spirit of the whole Scripture ?
It is on account of these things — the result of all
those movements which I have endeavoured to
describe, the impressions which are made upon men
deep-seated in the heart, and ramified in all our
literature and our daily life — that "there is such a
conflict between Scripture and the modern mind.
There are many difficulties ; but difficulty after
difficulty may be answered, objection after objection
may be removed, and the same conflict still continues.
Remember what the apostle of love has said to us,
speaking of Jesus Christ, " This is the true God and
eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from
idols."

IX

ALLEGED DISCORDANCE BETWEEN THE OLD AND
NEW TESTAMENTS

Difficulties as to the Old Testament by people who profess to believe in
the New Testament — (i) The God of the Old Testament different
from the God of the New — A God of wrath instead of love — This
difficulty rooted in a misunderstanding of the New Testament —
God's dealings with the patriarch, as a Friend — Propitiation in New
Testament teaches God's justice — New Testament says that men are
perishing without Christ — Character of God same throughout —
In Old Testament most wonderful expressions of loving-kindness
— (2) In New Testament God does not deal with nations, but
with individuals — Difficulties as to national dealings with Israel
apply equally to all His government of nations — (3) It is said that
in the Old Testament there is only a present-day religion — This
applies to nations as such, not individuals — Foreshadows the pro-
sperity of the reign of Christ — (4) Saints in Old Testament are

, said to be vindictive — Not vindictive but judicial, and same spirit
in New Testament as seen in our Lord's condemnation of the
Scribes and Pharisees — Forgiveness fully taught in the Old
Testament — Judgment clearly taught in the New.

We have this morning to consider the prevalent and
popular difficulties and objections raised against the
Old Testament Scriptures by people who profess that
they believe the New Testament. I do not consider
now difficulties which are raised by those who reject
the whole testimony of God ; but I consider the fact,
which must be obvious to all of you, that there are a
number of people who, while they profess to believe
in the New Testament, have a feeling of perplexity

DISCORDANCE BETWEEN THE TESTAMENTS 169

and doubt and unbelief with regard to the Old
Testament, and have well-nigh rejected it. And
the reason, why I state these difficulties, is because
this will prepare the way for the analysis of the
structure, and for the explanation of the peculiarities
of the Old Testament Scriptures, which I purpose
to give.

I shall notice six difficulties. The first difficulty
may be expressed in this way. We find that the
God of the Old Testament is different from the God
of the New Testament. The God of the New
Testament is love, — full of mercy and tenderness.
The God of the Old Testament seems to be a God
of wrath and of anger. If this difficulty is correct
it is fatal, because the whole object of the Old
Testament is to reveal Jehovah ; and if the Old
Testament does not give us a true view of Jehovah,
the Old Testament has been written in vain. I
wish to show how this objection is rooted in a
deep misunderstanding of the teaching of the New
Testament.

According to Scripture there is no knowledge of
God inherent in man. Man was created in the
image of God unto knowledge, with soul and spirit
capable of receiving the revelation of God ; and after
the strivings of God with mankind in general came to
an end, at the dispersion of nations at the Tower of
Babel, God left the Gentile nations to themselves,
and all that they thought of God, and all the longings
that they had after God must be viewed as remnants,
and reminiscences, of that primeval revelation which
God had vouchsafed to mankind, — and the witness
of the Spirit of God in the consciences and minds
of men.

I70 ALLEGED DISCORDANCE BETWEEN THE

When the apostle Paul says to the Ephesians,
" Ye who were once afar off hath he brought nigh,"
he does not merely refer to the atonement of Christ
by which sinners are reconciled to God, but he
expresses a great general and important fact — that
all the Gentile nations up to the time of Christ were
at a distance from God, — outside the circle in which
God manifested His light and His presence. There-
fore the apostle Paul, when he spoke to the Athenians,
although the Athenians were the wisest and most
cultured of all the nations of the world, said to them
that all their previous history, with all the great
thinkers and philosophers which they had produced,
was the time of ignorance, in which they were in
darkness, without the knowledge of the true God,
Therefore the Gentiles were brought nigh in Jesus
when they were brought into the commonwealth
of Israel, and when the light which shone upon the
chosen nation of God reached also their minds and
hearts ; for there were only two circles in which God
became known as God, — as a living one, — as a per-
son,— as a loving one. The first was Israel, for God
revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
He dealt with them as their friend, and the whole
nation afterwards knew that God was not a distant
God, but that He was very near to them, because
He was the friend of their forefathers, to whom He
spake, and who had experience of His presence and
of His power. Likewise, the subsequent generation
stood at the foot of Mount Horcb, and they heard
the voice of God, — and Moses afterwards says, " Was
there ever a nation like you to whom God manifests
Himself so that you can have no doubt that there is
a God and that this God is dealing with you?" Like-

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 171

wise when God became manifest in the person of
Jesus the apostles testified, " We have beheld the
glory of the Only Begotten of the Father. We have
seen and we have heard and we have handled the
Word of life, — and this Jesus, who is the true God
and eternal life, behold, Him declare we unto you."
So that Israel and the Church alone have the know-
ledge of God as He is God, — the person, — the
living One, — the only true and blessed One.

When people, without receiving this fact, still
imagine that they are able to construct God out of
their own intuition and reason, and when they select
from the Bible the passages which are according to
their mind, leaving out all others, they fall into
the error of supposing, that they themselves have
discovered those beautiful and attractive features of
the divine character, which they have selected. But
in this respect they are mistaken. Man never could
have found them out of himself. And in another
respect they are mistaken. By separating what
they like from those declarations which they do not
like, they lose entirely the right understanding of their
favourite passages. Now the whole world says that
what it likes in the New Testament is the declaration
that God is love, — and indeed this is the sum and
substance of all that God has taught us ; but if we
ask the question, " How is it that no one else ever
said that God was love ? — that none of the Gentiles,
however great their learning, and however deep and
acute their powers of mind, ever rose to this con-
ception, and that the Romans and Greeks thought
rather that the gods did not love us, that they were
envious of our prosperity, and that all that we could
do was to appease them,— and how is it that this

172 ALLEGED DISCORDANCE BETWEEN THE

declaration that God is love was uttered by him who
leaned on the bosom oi Jesus} " what is the answer?
Again, what is meant in the New Testament when
it says that God is love ? It is easy for me to
believe that God loves me as long as I think that I
am lovable ; but just in proportion as I find that I
am unlovable, full of sin and guilt and pollution in
the sight of God, is it difficult for me to believe that
God is love. Now the New Testament emphasises
this difficulty to the very highest point. Surely God
Himself must know wherein consists the excellency
and wonderfulness of His love, and God commendeth
His love to mankind — not in that He is nothing but
love, but in this, that while we were ungodly, —
sinners and enemies, — Christ died for us. " Herein is
love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us,
and gave his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
But if there is nothing else in God but merciful-
ness and what the world calls " love," why was it
necessary that there should be a propitiation for
our sins ? Therefore you find that all the New
Testament declarations which speak of the love
of God also show the dark background of the
wrath of God against all ungodliness, and of our
utterly lost condition in the sight of God, on account
of the justice and holiness of God. Take any
passage that you like — " The gift of God is eternal
life." " Oh," everybody would say, " yes, that
sounds beautiful." But what precedes it ? " The
wages of sin is death." Why are the wages of sin
death if there is nothing else in God but love ?
" God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten Son " (oh, that is beautiful) " that whosoever
believeth in him should not pcris/i.'" But why

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 173

should anybody perish with Christ, or without
Christ, unless it be that God in His holiness turns
away from sin, and that the very love of God reacts
against sin, and that God is a consuming fire against
it ? Therefore the very point which is the excellence
of the New Testament, namely, the atonement, the
sacrifice of Christ on the cross, cannot be under-
stood at all, except on the basis of the Old Testa-
ment teaching as to the character of God — namely,
that God must punish sin, and that the wrath of
God is the great obstacle, which stands between
fallen sinners and blessedness and communion with
Him. And thus it is that the expression, " The
wrath of God," which is so obnoxious to this nine-
teenth century, and on account of which they feel
so estranged from the Old Testament, is a leading
idea in the New Testament from 'the beginning.
What did John the Baptist preach ? Wrath against
evil. What is declared to us in the 3rd chapter of the
gospel of John ? " He that believeth on the Son
of God hath eternal life ; but he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him." What does the apostle Paul write
to the Thessalonians ? " You are waiting for the
coming of the Lord Jesus from heaven, even Jesus,
who delivered us from the wrath to come." And
what is the whole meaning of the book of Revela-
tion but this — that the Lord Jesus Christ at last is
revealed in order to take to Himself those who
trust in Him, while the judgment of God must be
executed on those who have despised the Gospel.
Therefore the Old Testament conception of God is
the very basis and foundation, on which the
wonderful love of God in the sacrifice of Jesus shines

174 ALLEGED DISCORDANCE BETWEEN THE

forth in the New Testament. If Christ crucified is
the centre of the New Testament, — if, there, the love
of God shines forth most brightly, — then the cross
of Christ is misunderstood and misinterpreted (and
so it is in fact) by all those who reject the Old
Testament idea of God, and the atonement is made
to be nothing else but a manifestation of God's love
(wherein it consists I do not see), and a death of
witness and of martyrdom unto the truth of God.

The only difference between the Old Testament
and the New Testament is this — that the arrange-
ment of subjects is different. The Old Testa-
ment puts it in this way, " God is holy ; you are
sinful ; therefore the wrath of God is upon you.
Oh that the Redeemer would come to deliver you."
The New Testament puts it in this way. "He has
come ; He has redeemed you. Now understand
how holy God is who could not save you except
through the blood of Jesus Christ, and now under-
stand how great and evil a thing sin is, that it
required the stupendous sacrifice of God's own Son
to remove it." But the character of God is the
same throughout.

There is another point which strikes people, and
it is this. In the Old Testament we read of
judgment upon judgment, of God. Adam and Eve
are banished out of Paradise, and the earth cursed
on account of their transgression ; then comes the
judgment of the Flood ; then comes the judgment
on the Tower of Babel ; then come the repeated
judgments on the Egyptians and on the enemies of
Israel, and a great many on Israel itself, — and people
think that the Old Testament God is the God of
judgments, and so He is ; but the reason of this is

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 175

exactly the opposite of what they imagine. The
reason of it is the mercy of God. God, who had
Christ always before Him from the beginning of the
world did not wish that the history of the apostate
race should come to an end. He desired to post-
pone the last judgment as long as possible, and there-
fore He sent these preliminary judgments, in order
to make it possible for Him to carry on the history of
mankind. Adam and Eve could not have remained
in Paradise. It would have been an end of all
history. The human race could not have continued
in the days of Noah, but God wished to continue it,
and therefore there came a judgment, and out of
that judgment the nucleus of a new development in
Noah and his household. All the judgments are sent,
in order, as it were, to make it possible for God to
continue the dealings of His mercy;

In the New Testament we have the same
principle, only the order of things is different.
There | what God says is this, There is now before
you a clear space, a long period in which there is an
amnesty. There will not be judgments, but the de-
claration that God is reconciling the world unto Him-
self in Christ Jesus — nothing but pardon, nothing but
grace. It is the acceptable year of the Lord. But
the judgment is to come at the end! — the judgment is
at the end ! Of how much sorer punishment shall they
be thought worthy who reject this great salvation of
God. They who do not accept the Gospel invitation
are treasuring up to themselves, as the apostle Paul
says in the New Testament, not in the Old, wrath
against the day of wrath. Therefore just as in the
Old Testament God is a God of judgment, because
He wishes to postpone the final judgment, in the

176 ALLEGED DISCORDANCE BETWEEN TILE

New Testament we have revealed to us the amnesty
and the time of the gospel dispensation — not because
God is not a God of judgment, but because He hath
appointed a day in the which He shall judge all
nations through that one Man whom He raised
from the dead. So you see that the same elements
are in the New as in the Old Testament.

Now I must go still further. Believe me, I do
not want to utter a paradox, but I declare the simple
truth. As there are in the Old Testament most
wonderful expressions of the loving-kindness, the
tenderness, of Jehovah God, such as shine forth, with
most extraordinary brilliancy and sweetness, even
after the New Testament revelation — " I will abun-
dantly pardon," "With the Lord there is plenteous
redemption," " Can a woman forget her child ? "
" The mountains shall be parted, the hills be
removed, but my thoughts of peace towards you
cannot be removed," " How shall I give thee up, O
Ephraim ? Why will ye die ? " " With the Lord
our God there is forgiveness that he may be feared,"
" Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters," — so there are in the New Testament all the
fearful declarations of the Old Testament, as I have
already proved ; but the New Testament severity is
far greater than that of the Old Testament.

And why is that ? For the simple reason that
now the fulness of truth has come in Christ Jesus.
God in the Old Testament did declare to Israel what
a great evil sin was, but He never could tell them
what He has told us, — by Christ. God could not say
to Israel, " Sin is this — that you would like me not
to exist : you would like to kill me." Such a severe
arraignment of the sinner was never made in the

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 177

Old Testament ; but when men crucified Jesus, then
sin in its true character came to Hght. You never
find in the Old Testament such a severe saying as
this — that sin is enmity against God. Why then,
do people not say that the New Testament is too
severe for them to endure it ? Why do they single
out, in their ignorance, the Old Testament ? Why
do they not tremble at the New Testament ? Not
merely is the infinite evil of sin described in the
New Testament as it never could have been in the
Old Testament, but it is not from the Old Testament
pages, but from the lips of Jesus and the words of
the apostles, that we learn what hell is, where " their
worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

The Old Testament and the New Testament
both combine in declaring to us God. " God is
love " must be written over both, with this distinction :
What is God ? The Old Testament answers that
question. But what is love ? The New Testament
answers that question. Unless you know the Old
Testament when you read " God is love," and do
not know what God is, — the sentence has no value
or meaning to you. In the New Testament,
the whole depths of the eternal counsel and the
light and love of God, are made manifest ; and we
see now what wonderful obstacles, what mountains,
what huge difficulties were removed, through the
stupendous sacrifice when God spared not His
own Son but gave Him up unto death. What
death? — the just for the unjust, bearing the wrath
of God and tasting death, in its penal connection
with sin.

Jesus Christ is the interpretation of God, but
if you misinterpret Him, how fatal will be that

N

178 ALLEGED DLSCORDANCE BETWEEN THE

misinterpretation, — and all misinterpret Christ and
the New Testament who do not take Christ and
the New Testament, according to the light which
God has given through Moses and the prophets.
And therefore it is that Jesus cannot say to this
generation what He was able to say to His con-
temporaries, " Ye believe in God " as He is revealed
in the Old Testament ; " believe also in me." And
the apostle Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews tells
us most distinctly, " God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners, spake unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last times spoken to us by
his Son."

I pass now to the second point. The second
point is this : In the New Testament God does not
deal with nations but with individuals. He makes
no difference between one nation and the other. He
addresses Himself to the individual. In the Old
Testament we have the history of a nation, and
therefore there are in the Old Testament a number
of things which are difficult to understand. When
God chose a nation, whom He formed for Himself
from its very beginning, He acted with the greatest
condescension, for now God had not to take cognis-
ance merely of that which was mental and spiritual
and individual, but of everything which referred
to a nation's life — of their food and raiment and
property, and all that concerns their social life.
And as they were not an isolated nation, but a nation
that had relationship with other nations, all those
difficulties and problems that meet us in the history
of the world are here brought under the direct
cognisance and superintendence of God. We are
astonished at war, at its cruelty, at the apparently

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 179

innocent and purposeless sufferings which it entails,
— and yet we know that God permits wars, and
that wars have been the turning-points in history,
and have often introduced great blessings. And
thus when we come to Israel they have their
wars, they have their soldiers. There are to be
considered the peculiar circumstances and character-
istics of that rough and cruel age. There we find
the divine justification. The nations, who inhabited
the land of Canaan, had filled up the measure of
iniquity, and those who have read the history
know that their lives were most pernicious, and that
the abominations and cruelties of those nations were
something appalling, and therefore God in His justice
had to deal with them, for the good of Israel and the
world. In all this there may be, many things that
are difficult for us to understand, that pain us, that
shock us, — even as in the current history of the world
there are many such startling problems.

Another difficulty is that the Old Testament
condescends to all the questions of a nation's life
— the questions of property and all that is associated
with this earthly condition; — to the government of a
nation, to the well-being of a nation, and all those
evils and difficulties that are connected with national
life. The adaptation and accommodation of God to
the weakness and sinfulness of that particular age,
having to deal with the facts as they existed, — His
permission of polygamy, and His permission and
modification of slavery — all these stagger people.
But why ? Because they do not see the purpose
that God had in them. It was necessary that -there
should be a nation out of which there should arise
Jesus for all nations. This nation was chosen for

i8o ALLEGED DLSCORDANCE BETWEEN THE

the benefit of all mankind and all families of the
earth. Neither when God chose this nation, did He
intend to deal with them as with favourites, but rather
to deal with them with greater judgment and severity
than with the other nations. Because He had
chosen them, therefore He educated them and chas-
tised them, and brought them under the influence
of His holiness and His justice. This nation was
not merely for a time. There is no new covenant
nation of God. In the new covenant there are the
children of God scattered abroad, — all of them brought
to Jesus. There is the flock of Christ, the Church,
the body of Christ ; but there is no nation that
is God's nation in the New Testament God has
only one nation — Israel ; because when He means
to revive His direct dealings with the world,
and to renew His direct governmental manifes-
tation and acts in the world. He has no other
medium, by which to benefit the other nations, than
the nation of Israel. Therefore there can be no
beginning of the millennial age except through the
ingathering of the people of Israel. In the light of
the future, will the past be explained.

People think when they call the Jews God's
" ancient " people that they are making a great
concession. They are not God's ancient people.
They are His present people ; they are His future
people ; they are His everlasting people ; they are
His only people. What does the apostle Paul say ?
"Hath God cast away His people?" — not His
"ancient" people. If it were "ancient" people He
had cast them away, because they were of the past.
"Hath God cast away His people? God forbid!"
he says, as if it were a blasphemy to suppose so. Let

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS

this be noted. Thus is this national history of Israel
explained. But, in the meantime, what a benefit has
it been to all the nations. While we have not got
in the New Testament the principles that ought to
guide kings, and rulers, and judges, the social diffi-
culties of poor and rich — all these are considered in
the Old Testament ; and there we have the laws of
God as to national life and all that pertains to it.

The third difficulty. There are some people who
say, " It is a strange thing that in the Old Testa-
ment there seems to be only a present-day religion.
The rewards promised are earthly ; the punishments
threatened are temporal. The future seems alto-
gether dark and vague. In the Psalms and
Prophets it seems as if they were afraid to die, and
as if the future were dark to them." On this question
of the gradual revelation of the future I do not enter
now, but I will say this : it is a very true character-
istic of the Old Testament, and full of instruction,
and the instruction lies in this, that God taught the
people, and God teaches us, by this : — Eternal life
means spiritual life. It is not a future life, — and the
question of how long it will last has nothing to do
with the essence of God. " Walk before me in the
sunshine of my favour, and then you please me, and I
am your God." Whereas the Egyptians were always
dreaming and speculating about immortality and
about the future, and how to secure for themselves
a future existence, — being all the time in darkness
and bondage. God said to the Israelites, " I Am.
Love me and serve me." It is quite true that God
promised to the Jews temporal prosperity if they
would obey Him, and that He threatened them with
judgments in case of disobedience. God wished

i82 ALLEGED DLSCORDANCE BETWEEN THE

thereby to help our weakness, and to incite and
encourage the people to walk in His ways, as we
propose rewards to children.^ Lord Bacon has said
" The Old Testament is the religion of prosperity
and the New Testament is the religion of adversity."
There is a truth in this, but a truth that requires to
be very carefully guarded. There are two things to
modify it. In the first place it was only the idea
that was put before Israel, not the reality. God
wished to teach Israel this : " Although this is a bad
fallen world, I am the Ruler, and I have connected
righteousness with happiness, — sin with misery. This
is My principle in all realms which I have made,"
even as the New Testament says that godliness has
the promise of this life and of that which is to
come.

But was it so always among the Jews ? Were not
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, strangers and pilgrims
who dwelt in tents ? Was Moses a happy and
prosperous man ? Was David not a man acquainted
with grief and with sorrow ? Had not all the godly
men in Israel, in proportion as they were godly, to
pass through much tribulation ? " Many are the
afflictions of the righteous. " Whom the Lord loveth.
He chasteneth." That was the problem, which some-
times was a great difficulty to them, and they had to
say " Fret not thyself because of evil-doers," because
of the ungodly " spreading himself like a green bay-
tree." So in actual experience can you say that
when individuals served God, He rewarded them
always with earthly rewards ? What is more striking

^ This is universally God's method with nations, because they have
as nations no future existence, and all rewards and punishments must be
visited on earth.

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 183

than this. The book of Ecclesiastes presents to us a
• king, honoured, full of power and influence, wealthy,
intellectual, artistic, tasting everything that this world
could give, and he says " It is all vanity." And the
book of Job shows us a man who suddenly, in one
day, was bereaved of his sons and daughters and
sheep and cattle and property, and he said " Blessed
be the name of the Lord." Is that an earthly
religion ? Is that a carnal religion ? That is the one
point.

The other point is this. One reason why
God in the Old Testament laid so much stress
upon prosperity following obedience, upon judg-
ment following disobedience, was, that it is His
intention to bring about a state of the world, when
there shall be righteousness, truth, and godliness
within, and when there shall be no evil without, but
peace and abundance for the poor and considerateness
and equity for all men, and when justice and beauty
shall be established here, and the will of God shall
be done upon earth even as it is in heaven. And
therefore all this earthly character of the Old Testa-
ment is prophetic of the millennium, of that future
condition which shall be brought about, — not as the
Utopian people imagine, that the world is getting
gradually better and happier, and that they will be
able to do away with poverty, crime, injustice,
cruelty, sickness and pestilence and war — but
by the coming of Jehovah in the person of Jesus
Himself to establish the kingdom. As it is written
in the 72nd Psalm, when the true Son of David shall
come then there shall be bread for the poor, and
then there shall be the manifestation of God's bounti-
fulness and loving-kindness over the whole earth.

1 84 ALLEGED DLSCORDANCE BETWEEN THE

There is a fourth difficulty. People say " The
saints in the Old Testament are so vindictive. They
ask God to send down judgment upon His
enemies. They seem to contemplate the destruction
of the ungodly, nay, to wish for it, and to pray for it.
That is not a spirit that we admire, nor is it the spirit
of the New Testament." Now this question has
been attempted to be solved in different ways.
Some have said " Yes, it was wrong in them,
but it is recorded because it was so. They had
these feelings, but they were wrong." This is no
answer at all, because all these expressions to
which I have alluded are embedded in psalms and
chapters in which the highest spirituality expressed
itself — faith in God, love to God, hope in His Word,
devotedness to His cause ; and moreover they are
embedded in prophecies which Christ has taken to
Himself The three psalms that are apparently most
vindictive are psalms that are quoted by our Lord
when He said, " They hated me without a cause,"
" He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his
heel against me," " They gave me vinegar to drink " ;
and by the apostle Peter, when he speaks of the
judgment that has come upon Judas. Therefore
these feelings are ratified in the New Testament, as
feelings in harmony with all that the Spirit of God
had wrought in these saints.

A second explanation is this — that it was only
under the Old Testament dispensation that there
could be allowance made for these feelings, but that
they have disappeared and there is nothing in the
New Testament to correspond with them. This also
is a false answer. If that is so, the Old Testament
is not the Word of God as the New Testament is.

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 1S5

and the God of the Old Testament is different from
the God of the New Testament. Therefore we
must consider the question in a more cahn and
candid way.

The first question is this — What is the teaching of
the Old Testament as regards our relation and our
duties to our enemies ? because after all that is the
point. I give a very simple answer. When the
apostle Paul, in the epistle to the Romans, speaks on
this subject, he does not know any better, higher, more
perfect commandment than that which is given in
the Old Testament, " If thine enemy hunger, feed him ;
if he thirst, give him drink." He quotes from the
Old Testament what, those people say, is not in the
Old Testament, and is peculiar to the New Testa-
ment. From the very beginning God taught Israel
that they were not to be vindictive, that vengeance
was His. " If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his
ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to
him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth
thee lying under his burden and wouldest forbear to
help him, thou shalt surely help him." And there
are many passages in the book of Proverbs where
we are warned not to be pleased when they that hate
us stumble. Therefore the idea that we are to for-
give and that we are even to help our enemies, was
commanded in the Word of God by Moses, and was
well understood by all the Old Testament saints.

Again, you remember those passages in the book
of Job and in the Psalms of David, where these saints
of God, arguing with God and pleading with Him,
are able to bear this witness to themselves : " We
have never done harm to those that did no harm to
us. On the contrary, even when our enemies were in

i86 ALLEGED DLSCORDANCE BETWEEN THE

distress, we went to their help and their succour."
Only remember the way in which David treated Saul,
who was his most bitter enemy without any cause,
when he was in his power in the cave ; and remem-
ber that triumph of the forgiveness of injuries, when,
after the death of Saul, David poured forth that
magnificent elegy. The wonder is, how he collected
together so many bright and beautiful features in
the character of one in whom there was so much to
blame. Here there was an illustration, such as the
world had never before had, of the maxim " Do not
speak of the dead, except what is good and favourable."
Now when we find this spirit, the question is. How are
we to account for those passages in which David im-
plores the judgment of God upon his enemies ? What
was the motive ? It was not a personal motive, but
this was the motive — the glory of God, the establish-
ment of God's kingdom, the manifestation to the
whole world that there is a righteous God and that
He judgeth, the preservation of God's chosen people
for His honour, and the preservation of those things
which God had entrusted to His nation — His Word,
and the knowledge of His name. It was for this reason
that they implored the judgments of God to come
upon those whose enmity was implacable, and whose
resistance and violence against God, and God's people,
there was no hope of conciliating, for there are other
passages in which David calls upon the nations to
consider the judgments of God and to turn to Him,
ere it be too late. Many of those passages are pro-
phetical, for God promises that He will judge and
establish His kingdom ; and being given in the spirit
of prophecy there is nothing else but an assent of the
believer to the purposes of God. So in the book of

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 187

Isaiah, it is said that on Babylon, which was the cruel
enemy of God's people, and which in the future should
appear again as the great anti-Christian power, seeking
to destroy God's people and to root out the truth
from the earth, there would be judgments from
God, and that the little children should be dashed
against the stones — that is to say, that the whole race,
root and branch, should be exterminated because of
the evil which they did on the face of the earth. In
poetical language this is reiterated, as Deborah sang
before, " So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord ; but
let them that love Him be as the sun when he goeth
forth in his might." When the prophets and psalmists
uttered these sayings, was there no mixture of earthly
passion with them ? No. David, we know, was of
like passions with us — that he was indignant, that he
was vehement, that he was carried away. So you
remember in that beautiful passage, when he had
gone against Nabal to punish Nabal on account of
his behaviour to his followers, and Abigail came and
pleaded with him, and David burst forth with such
humility, saying, " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
who sent thee this day to meet me : and blessed be
thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me
this day from coming to shed blood, and from
avenging myself with my own hand." He knew
very well what was of the earth earthy, and what
was the inspiration of God.

Is there nothing corresponding to this in the
New Testament ? That is the question. There
certainly is, only in the New Testament the judg-
ment is placed at a distance. Thus Jesus says,
" Woe unto thee, Capernaum, which art exalted
unto heaven, thou shalt be brought down to hell ; "

i88 ALLEGED DISCORDANCE BETWEEN THE

and to the scribes and Pharisees He says " Woe "
again . and again ; " Ye serpents, ye generation of
vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell ? "
and the apostle Paul says, " Alexander the copper-
smith hath done me much harm. The Lord reward
him according to his doings." In the book of Reve-
lation, the Lord Jesus praises the Church, " This good
thing thou hast, that thou hatest the Nicolaitanes " —
not the heresy, but the men^ — " whom I also hate " !
And when the judgments are described in the book
of Revelation — those fearful judgments which it is
difficult for us to read without awe and trembling —
what is the feeling which those judgments call forth,
not in Jews, as they are called, carnal Jews, but in
the holy and loving angels ? " Fear God, and give
glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is
come." " Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art,
and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged
thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and
prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink ;
for they are worthy. Even so. Lord God Almighty,
true and righteous are thy judgments ; " and in
another chapter, " For her sins have reached unto
heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double
unto her double according to her works : in the
cup which she hath filled, fill to her double."

The dispensations were different. God is the
same ; and the lesson to us who are living in this
present age, is to remember the glory of God, and
the one great aim of all His dealings, namely, to show
forth His praise, and to establish upon the earth His
kingdom, in righteousness and peace and love, which
will bring happiness to all the nations of the world.

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 189

There is a very striking confirmation of this in the
104th Psalm. The 104th Psalm is an echo of the
1st chapter of Genesis. The ist chapter of Genesis
gives us the creation of the world, beginning with
the creation of light, and ending with the creation
of men, and it sums up everything and says, " It is
all very good." David in the 1 04th Psalm responds
to this, and he describes all the universe, so to speak,
beginning with God, who clothes Himself with light
as with a garment, and ending with man, who goeth
forth to his work and to his labour till the evening.
This fills him with great joy, so he concludes in the
33rd verse, "I will sing unto the Lord as long
as I live ; I will sing praise to my God while I have
my being. My meditation of Him shall be sweet :
I will be glad in the Lord." ,Now there comes an
abrupt transition, " Let the sinners be consumed
out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more." I
remember when this first struck me, I was staggered.
Up to this verse he shows how beautiful the world
is, and how good God is, and he is full of gratitude
and joy, and he sings, and his meditation is sweet, and
now there comes this thunder and lightning. The ex-
planation is this. In the ist chapter of Genesis, before
sin has entered, all is very good. " The Lord beheld,
and it was all very good." And now this beautiful
universe has been poisoned, has been defiled, and the
thoughts of God frustrated by sin. It is as if a
great artist had produced a wonderful picture, and
then some one comes and spoils it all, and mars it.
Then David wishes for the restitution, or the estab-
lishment of those things which God has promised
from the beginning by the prophets, namely, the
kingdom of Jesus Christ and His saints, and Israel,

igo DISCORDANCE BETWEEN THE TESTAMENTS

and all the nations upon the earth. " Let the sinners
be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked
be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise
ye the Lord," These are very solemn truths. We
should never think of them without awe, without
feeling personally humbled to the very dust, without
feelings of the greatest compassion and tenderness
towards those that are without, and without being
stirred up to pray and to work for the ingathering
of those who are still without the knowledge of
Christ. Not with a cold heart, or a dry eye, ought
these great and awful things to be viewed, and it is
for us to cleave unto the Lord our God, and to seek
His glory and His only.

X

THE PERFECT HARMONY OF THE OLD AND NEW

TESTAMENTS

Two further objections to Old Testament by those who believe in the
New Testament — (5) Old Testament miracles — Not so different
from those of the New— Occurred at periods of great importance
when something new to be ushered in — Those chiefly doubted,
ratified by Jesus Christ : as Balaam, Jonah, etc. — ^Jesus' miracles
the most frequent and wonderful of all — Jewish miracles chiefly
national — ^Jesus' individual — (6) The sins of God's people — Nothing
shows inspiration more clearly than the faithfulness in depicting
sins of the servants of God — Rothe's statement on this subject — •
Jonah's description of his own sins — As to Reformation two defects
— (i) Did not distinguish the dispensations — (2) Did not see clearly
the important position of the Jews in the economy of God and the
second advent of our Lord — The good of controversy going on now
that it obliges Christians to read the whole Scriptures — What holds
Old and New Testaments together — The very term Old and New
Testaments objectionable — Gospel everywhere — The one the Book
of the kingdom ; the other the Book of the Church — The second
advent of our Lord the key to the union — ^This constantly fore-
told in Old, and dwelt on in New Testament — That triumphant
part of Messiah's mission (foretold in Old Testament) yet to be
fulfilled — The Old and New Testaments coincide in the descrip-
tion of the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour.

I BROUGHT before you in the last lecture a few of those
popular objections which are brought against the Old
Testament, by people who profess to have faith in the
New Testament. It is a very strange thing that
there are not a few who, professing to believe in the

192 THE PERFECT HARMONY

scriptures of the New Testament, regard the Old
Testament with a feeling of perplexity and doubt,
not to say of antipathy ; and the objections which
are brought forward by them against the Old Testa-
ment, I endeavoured to show, were rooted in their
insufficient understanding of the teaching of the New
Testament. I have only two more to bring before
you this morning, and I must pass over them rapidly,
because there are so many other points to which it
is necessary to allude, in connection with the subject
of this address.

A fifth objection which is brought against the
Old Testament is on account of the miracles which
it contains. This objection is brought forward not
by people who doubt the miracles of the New Testa-
ment— in that case it would be necessary to con-
sider the question of miracle in general ; but these
people believe the miracles that Jesus and the
apostles wrought, and still they think that the
miracles of the Old Testament are of a character
that makes it very difficult to believe in their actual
occurrence — a strange objection in which there is no
reason, in which there is only a kind of obscure feel-
ing and antipathy ; for if we compare the miracles of
the Old and of the New Testament, we shall find
that their character is the same. At whatever
period of the world's history they occurred, they
could never be interpreted or accounted for by
the natural law of things. To convert water into
wine, to raise the dead, to open the eyes of one that
was born blind — all these things are evidently what
we call " miracles."

In the second place, so great is the similarity be-
tween the Old and the New Testament miracles that

OF THE OLD AND NEIV TESTA/VEiVTS 193

it has been one of the arguments of the defenders of
the mythical theory of the gospels, that it was evident
that the authors of these books were anxious to
show, that Christ and the apostles were able to do
the same wonderful things, which Moses and the
prophets had done, and that therefore as there was
the feeding of the children of Israel in the wilderness
with manna, so there was the miraculous feeding of
the multitude in the desert ; and as there was the
raising up of the dead through Elisha, and the healing
of the leper, so there were similar miracles recorded
of Christ and of the apostles.

A third point is this. People are under the
impression, that on every page of the Old Testament,
there is some wonderful prodigy which entirely stops
the course of nature, and which disorders the natural
development of, things. They say, " Arc we to
believe those wonderful stories about the wife of Lot
being turned into a pillar of salt, about the Red
Sea, about the sun standing still, about the whale
and Jonah, and so on ? " giving you the impression
that, according to their view, the Old Testament was
a series of prodigies. Against this it must be said
very simply, that, during a period of about three and
twenty years, there occurred a far larger number of
miracles in the New Testament time than during all
the centuries of Israel's history. During the three
years of Christ's earthly ministry, and during the
twenty years, of which the Acts of the apostles give
us a record, there is a far greater number of miracles
narrated, than in the whole history of the Old
covenant people, through many centuries. So this
objection at once falls to the ground.

And all those miracles, that are recorded in the
O

194 THE PERFECT HARMONY

old history, are recorded as having happened in
periods of great importance, and of transition, when
a new thing had to be ushered in — when Israel had
to be brought out of Egypt, when they had to be
supported in the wilderness, when they had to
conquer the land which the Lord had promised to
them, and again, in the time of general apostasy,
when they had adopted the worship of Baal in the
times of Elijah and Elisha ; so that it is not for
the love of prodigies, that these miracles are intro-
duced, but as acts and manifestations of a living God
who transacts supernatural events, the object of which
is His glory, and the salvation of mankind.

Another point to be noticed is this, that all these
miracles, which form the stumbling-block of people
in the Old Testament, are ratified by Jesus Christ
and by the apostles ; so that if you do not believe
the miracle of Jonah, it is not with the book of
Jonah that you have to do, but with our Saviour
Jesus Christ Himself; or if you do not believe in
the Flood, or in the turning of Lot's wife into a
pillar of salt, you have to do with Jesus, who said,
" As it was in the days of Noah," and " Remember
Lot's wife " ; or if you do not choose to believe that
Balaam's ass spoke, you have to do with the apostle
Peter, who mentions, that through the voice of an
irrational creature, God reproved the false prophet.
There is no miracle spoken of in the Old Testament
that is a stumbling-block to the present generation,
— that has not, directly or indirectly, been ratified
by the authority of our divine Lord and of His in-
spired apostles. But to do perfect justice, as it is our
bounden duty to do, there is a difference between
the Old Testament miracles and the New Testament

OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 195

miracles, — and this difference I wish to point out
very briefly.

I think that the miracles of our blessed Saviour
Jesus Christ stand quite by themselves, because He
is both God and man ; and when Jesus performed
miracles He was able to say truly, as recorded in
the gospel of John, " If I had not done such works
as none other man did " — not Moses; nor Elijah,
nor any other man, — for out of that which was in
Him, He, the Lord, manifested His power. In the
miracles which are recorded in the Old Testament
it is always said that they are wrought, that Jehovah's
glory, not the glory of Moses, might be made mani-
fest. But when Jesus performs miracles, it is that
the glory of Jesus may be made manifest. The
miracles of our blessed Saviour range themselves
under these several aspects. He is the Mediator,
the Saviour, the Restorer. All things are under
His sway. Nature — he can intensify and multiply
nature in a miraculous way. Thus the five loaves and
two fishes are sufficient for thousands. The water
is changed into wine. And He can conquer the
adverse powers of nature, so that He rebukes the
winds, and the waves of the sea, and there is a
great calm. As He is the Lord of nature, so He is
the Saviour and Restorer ; therefore He changes
disease into health. He has the power over death ;
therefore He is able to raise the dead, because He is
the resurrection and the life. And He is the Lord
whom all angels and devils must obey. Therefore
He is able to drive out, and to banish, the servants
of Satan. So He is Lord over all, — Son of God and
yet Son of Man.

But the miracles of Jesus Christ and of His

196 THE PERFECT HARMONY

apostles, have all reference to the individual, to
salvation, to the idea of redemption and restoration.
The Old Testament, as I explained to you on the
last occasion, has not so much to do with individuals,
as with a nation. What the Old Testament history-
sought to prove was, that Jehovah the God of Israel
is the true God, and stronger than all the powers,
in which the nations trust. It did not seek to
prove that Jehovah pardons the sins of every con-
trite one, and is able to renew the heart, and to
restore peace unto the troubled. It sought to show
that the God of the nation is above all other gods,
that Israel, in contrast with the nations, has pre-
eminence and power over all the worldly powers.
Therefore the miracles in the land of Egypt had, so
to speak, a cosmic character. They were to show
to Pharaoh, and to the Egyptians that all those
natural powers, in which they trusted, were under
the control of Jehovah. Likewise was this the case
with the miracles wrought, when, under Joshua, Israel
entered into the land of Canaan. They were meant
to show the Canaanitcs, that God was greater than the
sun and the moon, and greater than all powers in
which they had confidence. So the miracles of the
Old Testament have, in one respect, a very striking,
if I may so speak, stupendous, anti-natural character,
because they relate to the national history and to the
manifestation of God, as the God of the nation, versus
all the other nations who trust in gods and powers
which are only subordinate or altogether non-existent.
I pass on now to the last point. Many people
object to the Old Testament because the sins of God's
people — Jacob, and David, and Jonah, etc. — are there
told with such great plainness, that it is difficult for

OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 197

US to believe that men, who were guilty of such sins,
should continue to be regarded, as the favourites
and saints of God. Now this is an objection which
is of great importance. Let me quote the remark-
able utterance of one of the greatest speculative theo-
logians of the present century, — the great authority
on questions of theological ethics, — Professor Rothe
says, " The opinion which has been so often as-
serted in modern times that the ethics of the Bible
do not reach clearness and purity, until we come
to the New Testament, is altogether false. The
ethics of the Old Testament and of the New Testa-
ment are perfectly identical. The Spirit of God
must always announce the same principles. The
Old Testament," he says, " never would have been
written except it had been for the intended New
Testament, and although the individual saints, who
are brought before us in the Old Testament, did not
attain to the idea which is revealed, the revelation
of God in the Old Testament concerning ethics is a
perfect revelation."

The object of the Bible is not to glorify and
eulogise man, but to glorify God. It is not to give
us ideal pictures of human characters. We are very
much inclined to suppose this, and people arc very
ready to talk of a " holy man," " a very holy man."
There is no degree in holiness. A holy man is a
sinner saved, who, by the electing love and power
of God, is brought nigh to Him. And, there-
fore, with perfect truthfulness, the Scripture records
the great sins and falls of God's chosen ones. It
wishes to impress upon us that all is by grace, —
that it was not on account of some natural superiority
of character that God's servants were chosen, and

198 THE PERFECT HARMONY

that, after they had been brought to the knowledge
and the fear of God, it was only grace that sustained
them, — while there was still within them, even to the
last, that other law striving against the holy will of
God. But when Scripture lays bare to us the
sins of God's saints, with perfect truthfulness, does
it approve of the sins of God's people ? Does it
represent them in a fascinating and seducing light ?
Does it palliate their guilt and culpability ? Does
it not show to us that God condemned the sin, and
that God severely chastised each one of His saints
who fell into sin ? And more than that. The world
knows about the sin of David, but does the world
know about the repentance of David, — how deep it
was, how spiritual it was, how sincere it was, how
self-humiliating it was — so that, in the face of the
whole nation, the king confessed his guilt and wrote
those Psalms, the 51st and the 32nd, in which he
showed, before the whole world, how deeply he had
fallen, and that it was only the mercy of God that
had restored him ? You know well regarding Jonah
who was disobedient to God, and ran away from God,
and afterwards murmured, because God pardoned the
Ninevites, and because the gourd was dried up ?
Do you ever think that it is Jonah himself who tells
you of these things that he did ? It is the power of
divine grace, which restores God's people after they
have fallen into sin, when they truly repent. God
delights in His people, but He punishes them and
rebukes them for all their trespasses.

But the root of the objection, which, after all, I
have not touched, lies in what I have already ex-
plained— the importance attached in this age to what
people call " ethics " and " morality." The world does

OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 199

not know the difference between morality and godli-
ness. Morality is a very good and excellent thing,
but it is not godliness. Godliness includes morality.
Morality can never be a substitute for godliness.
The Bible does not divide the human race into
men who are more or less moral, or who are moral
and immoral ; but the Bible divides men into two
classes — the godly and the ungodly, the regenerate
and the unregenerate — those who belong to Christ's
flock, and those who do not belong to Christ's
flock. And therefore it is that you will find so
many people say, — what they ought to be ashamed
to say, — that they like Esau better than Jacob,
when God says " Jacob have I loved and Esau
have I hated." And why do they like Esau better
than Jacob ? Because they do not understand Jacob.
They see a few blemishes in Jacob's character (who
is there that has none?) but they do not see that
the whole bent of the man was Godward, that during
all his life he was walking in communion with God,
and that the prayer which he uttered on his death-
bed, interrupting the prophetic prediction concerning
the twelve tribes, " I have waited, Jehovah, for Thy
salvation," was the pulsation of the man's whole
heart. And the Pharisees did not understand why
the publicans and sinners came to Jesus, just as the
elder brother did not understand, why there was so
much rejoicing over the younger son who had
returned. Thus it is, that men who do not know the
principle of grace, and who do not know the corrup-
tion of their own hearts, are so staggered at these
narratives of the fall and sins of God's people.

But now I must hasten to the subject that is
further and chiefly to occupy us to-day.

THE PERFECT HARMONY

In my first lecture I showed you the effect, which
had been produced by the interpretation of the Bible
through rationalism, — by the mythical theory which
was produced by pantheism, — by that atheism which
most illogically and unnecessarily has, through alleged
results of science, fortified itself in want of faith in
the living God, in an undue exaltation of reason as
if it were the judge of revelation or needed no reve-
lation, and in the Pelagian view of man that he was
not so sinful as to require an expiation or so corrupt
as to require regeneration, and in the idea also that
the world will improve naturally, — not, as the Bible
tells us, through the judgments and direct interfer-
ence of Jehovah.

I must notice some defects in the Reformation
interpretation of Scripture, and what is generally
called the evangelical interpretation of Scripture,
under which we still labour to our great disadvantage.
The Reformation had two defects. I have spoken
at great length, and out of the fulness of my heart, of
the glory of the Reformation. Let me point out now
these two points in which the Reformers were defi-
cient. In the first place, they did not distinguish the
dispensations, although Augustine had already said,
" Distinguish the times and all difficulties vanish."
If they had distinguished the dispensations of the
kingdom, and of the Church, they never could have
approved of Servetus being put to death because he
was heretical on the doctrine of the Trinity, for in
the Church, in the family of God, there is no sword.
The sword is only in the kingdom. If any man
deny the truth as it is in Jesus, he certainly ought
not to be a minister of the Church or a member of
the Church ; but in this world we Christians, as

OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 201

Christians, have no rights ; we have only duties.
In the second place, they did not understand clearly
the important position of the Jews in the economy of
God, nor did they see clearly the second advent of
our Lord. Not that either Luther or Calvin held
those shallow Pelagian views, so common, of a
gradual amelioration and Christianising of the
world. Calvin says, " It is a superstition to think
that the world is improving in religion and morality.
It is not improving, but it is always going back."
Luther says, " I know that the world is becoming
epicurean, — that is to say, they will lose faith in God
and immortality, and give themselves up to the plea-
sures of the things of this world, and, then suddenly,
shall be heard the voice, ' Behold the Bridegroom
cometh.'" But still they did not see clearly the
second advent of our Lord, or the difference between
the Church dispensation and the position of Israel,
both in the past and in the future kingdom. The
error which was made subsequently by those who
preached the saving truths of the Gospel was this —
that they thought that it was sufficient to preach
personal salvation, man's sinfulness, the atonement,
the renewal by the Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit —
everything that referred to the individual. That is
the centre, but all the circumference they left out, —
the whole counsel of God as it is revealed in Scripture,
the plan of God, the kingdom of God, the creation
of the world, the creation of man, the unity of the
human race, the judgment of the Tower of Babel,
the elective dispensation under Israel, in its contrast
to what came afterwards. The consequence was
that, while it was all very good for those, who
spiritually and experimentally knew about sin and

THE PERFECT HARMONY

salvation, the world in its philosophy and in its
science was constantly undermining the circum-
ference, so that on all the other points, on which
the Bible touches, false and anti-Biblical ideas be-
came current, and each of these points afforded a
position from which to attack and to assail the
whole Scripture.

Now this is one important thing in the controversy
which is going on at present, that it obliges Christians
to read the whole Scripture, that wc cannot limit
ourselves to a few points, which bear upon personal
revelation, but that we must now acknowledge that
God has taught us nothing but what is profitable,
nay, what is necessary. What people generally
call " edifying," by which they mean something that
touches upon their feelings or upon their present
course of action, is not the biblical idea of " edifying."
The biblical idea of " edifying " is that we should see
the character of God, and the will of God, and that
thus we should be built up in our most holy faith.
It is as if I were to begin the Lord's Prayer by
saying " Give us this day our daily bread," and to
pray for bread and for pardon and for guidance and
for deliverance, and to forget " Hallowed be Thy
name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on
earth as it is in heaven." These are the things in
which is our life, and from which emanate all the
strength and the guidance, that we need, for our daily
conduct and our daily difficulties. The Old Testa-
ment, at present, is the great battlefield, and it is a
very good thing that it is so. The reasons I must
reserve for my next address.

I wish now to speak about the Old Testament
in its distinction from the New Testament, and to

OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 203

ask this question, " What is the leading idea which
will enable us to sec the whole, both in its unity and
also in its characteristic peculiarities?" That the Bible
consists of two parts is evident — historically evident.
This is not a theory : it is a fact. The one part was
written before the advent of Christ, the other was
written after the advent of Christ; the one in Hebrew,
the other in Greek ; the one believed in by the Jews,
who reject the other ; the other as well as the Old
Testament believed in by the Church of Christ.
Now this last fact is the clue to the whole question.
During the times of the Gentiles, while Israel is under
the displeasure of God, and estranged from Him, there
is the Church, as a witness for God, and the name
which was formerly " Jehovah " lives among them as
" I Jesus." Therefore the one set of books belongs
to Israel, and has reference to the past history of
Israel, and to the future glory of Israel, and the
other set belongs to the Church, in which there
are both Jews and Gentiles, having reference to the
peculiar position which shall be assigned to them, at
the second coming of our blessed Lord and Saviour.
A simple Christian who has been instructed in the
saving truths looks upon the whole, as one. He sees
the continuity. The books of the Old and of the
New Testament appear to him like a ring, or like a
circle ; for as in the first three chapters of Genesis
we are told of the creation of heaven and earth,
and of Adam and Eve, and afterwards of the serpent
by whom our first parents were led into disobedience,
so in the three last chapters of the book of Revela-
tion these points are taken up exactly in the same
method. First, Satan is cast into prison and made
harmless ; then there is the marriage of the Lamb

204 THE PERFECT HARMONY

and of the Bride ; and then the new heaven and the
new earth in which the full glory of God is made
manifest. The history is also continuous. Malachi
says, " There will come the precursor." The gospel
virtually begins, " There was a man sent from God,
whose name was John." The ist chapter of the book
of Matthew shows to us that Abraham, David, the
captivity, and Jesus — form a continuous history. So
it appears to them as a ring or a circle. Or again,
when they think of promise and fulfilment, it appears
to them as a tree which is an organic whole. Or again,
when they think of the history going on, it appears to
them as a river which flows with increasing force and
beauty until at last it passes into the ocean. Or
again, when they think that the one thing is pre-
paratory to the other, it appears to them as a house,
— the Old Testament the foundation and the
New Testament the superstructure. Or it appears
to them as a riddle : the Old Testament states the
problem in all its complex difficulty ; the New
Testament gives the solution in its majestic sim-
plicity. Or it appears, as a lock and key : the
lock is very complicated with many wards, some
of them very delicate ; the key exactly fits in, and,
without straining or altering any of the wards,
opens it. Or again, it appears to them like that
glorious scene when there were multitudes before
Him and multitudes behind Him, and in the
middle there was Jesus, and both they that were
before and they that followed after, said, " Hosanna
to the Son of David." Or it appears like those
two men who brought the grapes from the promised
land to show to Israel what a blessed, fertile
country it was. Both carried the same bunch of

OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 205

grapes, but the man who went before it had only a
passing glance of it when he took it up. The man
who went behind saw the grapes, and he saw the man
that went before. Thus were the prophets, Christ in
the middle, and the apostles who saw both Christ
and the prophets. But my favourite comparison is
this. It is like a day, and you know that in Scrip-
ture the evening comes first and then the morning.
It was evening and it was morning — one day. So
there comes first the night, so to speak, of the Old
Testament, in which the moon of promise and the
stars of prophets were shining and gladdening and
comforting the hearts of God's people, and then there
came the brightness of the morning — yet one day.
Still more is it like that child, of whom King Solomon
said " Divide it," and the mother cried out " By no
means slay the child " ; for to divide Old Testament
and New Testament is to take away the life of
both, for they are not merely connected, nor are
they merely harmonious, but they interpenetrate
one another. The same breath of life and the same
covenant blood of Him that died for us pervades
them all.

But if we sec the unity of Old and New Testa-
ment and the contrast, also, between the Old and
the New Testament, the question now is this : What
holds the Old and the New Testament together, in
such a way that the Old Testament never is super-
seded,— that what is peculiar in the Old Testament
is secured, that what is peculiar in the New Testa-
ment is secured, and yet both live together ? To
answer this question I must begin by saying that
the usual designation " Old " and " New " Testa-
ment appears to me not merely imperfect, but

2o6 THE PERFECT HARMONY

liable to great misunderstanding. Why should the
books of Moses, and the prophets, be called Old
Testament. Certainly " Old " conveys the idea of
antiquity as if it had passed away, and the idea of
old covenant conveys the idea of the law. But I
say Moses, and the prophets, are not Old Testament
at all. The Gospel is everywhere. One of the
objections that modern criticism has brought against
the later books, the later historical books and the
prophets and the Psalms, is this — that they seem to
think little of the Levitical institutions ; that they
ignore, as it were, the law ; that they lay great stress
upon other things — the attitude of the heart towards
God and the coming salvation of our Lord. Now,
the object for which this argument is pressed is
altogether erroneous, but the idea is not erroneous,
for let us look away now from the five books of
Moses which are generally considered the law. All
the other books are full of the gospel, are full of
Jesus, are full of atonement, are full of the promise
of the Spirit, are full of that spiritual relationship
which we have to God, so that the Christian Church
can sing the Psalms. There is nothing Levitical
in the Psalms. Come we, then, to the five books of
Moses. Show me the law in the book of Genesis.
It is not there. There is no law there. " Abraham
believed God, and it was counted to him for right-
eousness." " I am the Lord. Walk thou before
me." And in the book of Deuteronomy there is
given what the apostle states : — " The law is
spiritual"; Deuteronomy sums up the whole in this:
" Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart, and
thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" The
whole of that book is, what you might call an

OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 207

evangelical exhortation, to serve the God who has
redeemed us. There remain Exodus, Leviticus,
and Numbers. Well, what about Exodus ? It is
gospel throughout. Why did God bring Israel out
of Egypt ? First reason : election. He had chosen
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; and the nation, that
was to descend from them, went back to the election.
And the second reason is the blood of the paschal
lamb, and the institution of the tabernacle. Is that
law or is that gospel ? Is not that mediation ? Is
not that the sacrifice of Christ, under every possible
aspect ? Is not that the down-coming of God — the
descent of God to meet His people because He is the
God who redeems them, and because He is the God
who sanctifies them by the Holy Ghost ? As to the
book of Leviticus — read the epistle to the Hebrews,
and say whether it is law or gospel. In the book
of Genesis we see Abraham offering up Isaac, his
only son. In the book of Exodus we see the blood
of the paschal lamb. In the book of Leviticus we
see the high priest entering, once a year, into
the Holy of Holies, with blood. In the book of
Numbers we see the brazen serpent lifted up, that
whosoever looks may be saved. And in the book
of Deuteronomy we see the " prophet like unto me
whom the Lord thy God will raise up from among
thy brethren. Him shalt thou hear." It is all
gospel. Gospel is not the distinguishing character-
istic of the New Testament. Law is not the
distinguishing characteristic of the Old Testament.
That I firmly maintain. This is the characteristic :
the one is the book of the kingdom and the book
of Israel ; the other is the book of the Church.
In the one God manifests His promise, and it is the

2o8 THE PERFECT HARMONY

promise that has reference to this earth. Israel is
the nation. Palestine is the country. All the
nations of the world are the circumference. Jehovah
is the King, and He Himself will come, and, after
judgments on the nations and chastisements on His
own people, He will save and glorify Israel. That
is the promise of the Old Testament from beginning
to end. As Habakkuk says, " The prophecy is for
the appointed time. It hasteth to the end." Liter-
ally " it pointeth to the end." " Though it tarry,
wait for it. It will not disappoint, but it will surely
come." This is the kingdom of which the angel
spoke to the Virgin Mary. This is the kingdom of
which Mary spoke, and of which Zechariah spoke,
and of which the disciples spoke, when they asked
the ascending Lord, " Wilt thou at this time restore
the kingdom unto Israel ? " It is the book of the
kingdom ; it is the book of Israel ; and during the
present dispensation the book, as it were, still
belongs to Israel, and also belongs to the Church
that is waiting for its fulfilment. We now come to
the New Testament. The New Testament has also
a point to which it looks ; and what is that point ?
Oh, I will speak freely on this subject. It is the
second advent of our Lord, when He will return
with His saints, and when He will make Himself
manifest to Israel and to the whole world, not in
order that the last judgment may be held, but that
another historical period may be ushered in, when
God's will shall be done upon this earth as it is in
heaven, and when Jesus Christ and the transfigured
saints shall come to be seen and to be acknowledged,
— and then there shall be fulfilled the promises which
God has given from the beginning of the world.

OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 209

When He comes Israel will say, "It is Jehovah, and
it is His first advent." The Church will say, " It is
Jesus, and it is His second advent." Israel will say,
" He has come to take possession of the throne of
His father David, and Jerusalem will be glorified
and will be His nation." And the Church will say,
" He is glorified in the saints, and admired in all
them that believe, and we, whom He has redeemed
with His blood, shall reign with Him on the earth."
This is what all the apostles taught, and taught
constantly. Scarcely are the Thessalonians converted
from idolatry, before the apostles teach them, to
wait for the coming of God's Son from heaven.
There is no summary given in the apostolic epistles,
of what we believe, that does not bring in " the
blessed hope, the glorious appearing (notice the ex-
pression) of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus
Christ." Purposely the expression is the Jehovah,
who will appear unto Israel. It is Jesus who appears
with the Church — the same thing, — " the great God
and our Saviour Jesus Christ." And the angel
explained it to the disciples : " This same Jesus shall
so come." It is the next thing which is to happen.
He has left you, and the next thing that is to
happen is that He will return. Now I will confirm
it ; and if there are any here who are in doubt
on the subject, — Do, I beg of you, consider it.
Take, now, the position of the apostles. They were
told to go into all the world and to evangelise.
Israel was without the knowledge of the Messiah.
The nations were sunk in ignorance and idolatry.
The whole field was before them. Why do they
trouble about the end ? Have they not plenty to
do ? Many people tell us, " Do not speak to us of

P

THE PERFECT HARMONY

the second advent. It is for us to missionize and to
convert the world." Nobody objects to your con-
verting the world, if you can do it. Why is it that
these apostles, who are just beginning their work, do
not say to the congregations, " Only wait. It is
quite true that now the majority is against us ; but,
century after century, that will change. Christianity
will leaven the world " — leaven never used in a good
sense, but always in a bad sense — " Christianity will
leaven the whole world and bring all civilisation and
knowledge and art into its sphere." No ; but what
they say to their congregations is this : " The mys-
tery of iniquity has already begun to manifest itself.
Little children, it is the last time. Hasten to the
coming of the Lord Jesus, knowing that the last
times shall be perilous times, — and we wait for our
Lord Himself to come and establish His kingdom."

Second objection. People tell us, when we speak
about the second advent, " Have we not enough
to say about the first advent, the incarnation, the
crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension, the teach-
ing of our blessed Saviour, the example of our
blessed Saviour?" Oh yes; but the apostles who,
as it were, had yet the transcendent glory of the
first advent, irradiating their countenances and
solemnising their hearts, — who had heard the words
which flowed from His blessed lips, — who had seen
Him die on the cross, — to whom He had appeared
after His resurrection, and who had beheld how He
was taken up in a cloud — although all these stupend-
ous, magnificent, and most blessed facts of the first
advent were so close to them, they could never
dissociate it, from the appearing of our great God
and Saviour, from the return of our blessed Lord

OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 211

Jesus Christ, And why should the gospel of the
apostle John, which he wrote in order that faith
might have its right foundation, and the epistles of
the apostle, which he wrote in order that we might
know the true character of love both to God and
man — why should they only be read and appre-
ciated by the Church, while the other book, the
Revelation, of which he himself says, " Blessed is he
that readeth and they that hear the words of this
prophecy," is ignored — why should that book not be
brought continually before our gaze ? The attitude
of the Christian, whether he lives in the first century
or in the nineteenth century, or in the twenty-ninth
century if there will be such a century in the present
dispensation, remains entirely the same. Some
people may say, " But, you ^ce, the apostles were
mistaken, Jesus Christ did not come " ; or they may
say that Bengel was mistaken because Jesus Christ
did not come, when he prophesied He would. That has
nothing to do with it — nothing whatever to do with it.
This is the point — that, during this whole dispensation
of the Church, the world will not get better, and
that the only object both for the Church and for
the world is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Having this expectation of the heart, we will keep
ourselves from the spirit of the world, and know that
in this dispensation it is for the Church to witness,
to suffer, to hold fast, and to be faithful. The illus-
trious Bengel made this remark : " The Christian
Churches have forgotten the hope of the Church,
but they still exhort people to be faithful, and to be
unworldly, and to be patient ; but in the New Testa-
ment, all exhortations to be unworldly, and to be
faithful, and to be diligent, are based upon this fact

THE PERFECT HARMONY

— that the Lord is coming. ' What God has joined
together, let not man put asunder.' "

And now we must consider the connecting Hnks
which show in the Old Testament, that the coming
of Jehovah is identical with the coming of Jesus,
and show in the New Testament, that the coming of
Jesus is identical with the coming of Jehovah.
There is far more said in the book of the kingdom,
as I shall now call it, or in the book of Israel, of
the second advent than of the first advent — far more,
and for this simple reason : If everything concerning
the first advent and the rejection of Jesus by His
people Israel had been plainly and clearly foretold,
the coming of Jesus to Israel would have been a fore-
gone conclusion ; — it would not have been possible
that the nation should have been tested, as God
wished to test them. "At last He sent His Son.
Peradventure they will listen to Him." He had to
come, as it were, incognito, and it was necessary for
them to have the first advent, and the rejection of
Jesus, clouded and veiled, and so mixed up with
the second advent that the difficulty could only be
overcome by the mysterious thing which we call
faith, and which is called forth by the power of
God. Yet there were many things in the Old
Testament that showed to them the great problem,
which we can solve now from the New Testament
point of view. Our Lord Jesus referred to it. " How
does David call Him Lord, when He is his Son.
Why does He say unto Him, ' Sit Thou at My right
hand ' ? That is not in Jerusalem. You expect
Messiah. You expect rightly the Messiah to be
your King. But this servant of the Lord, this
Son of David — the Holy Ghost by David calls

OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 213

Lord, and His position is at the right hand above.
How is that ? " He refers also to the prophecy of
Daniel. " From henceforth you shall see the Son of
Man in power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."
Daniel predicts the four monarchies ; there comes
direct from above, from heaven, the fifth monarchy,
which is the everlasting kingdom. That is the
stone cut out without hands, and it is the Son of
Man coming in the clouds from heaven. But how
should He get there ? Whoever heard of the Son
of Man from heaven ? Is this the root out of a dry
ground ? Is this He who was born in Bethlehem
Ephratah ? The Son of Man from heaven, — the
rejection of Jesus, and the exaltation of Jesus.

Now He comes down. Therefore the apostle
says to the Thessalonians, " You wait for the coming
of Jesus from heaven." The first time He came
from heaven, the second time He will come from
heaven. This shows you how, in the Old Testament
we have already indication, that the Jehovah who
comes to establish the kingdom on earth is none other
than He, who is described in the book of Zechariah.
" They shall look unto him whom they have pierced ;
and his feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives
which is before Jerusalem on the east." In the New
Testament the apostle Peter says to the Jews,
" Repent that your sins may be blotted out, in order
that times of refreshment may come from the pres-
ence of the Lord, when he shall send Jesus who is
your Messiah." And the apostle Paul says to the
Romans, " All Israel shall be saved." Why ? Be-
cause it is written in the prophet Isaiah, that out
of Zion shall come the deliverer. Therefore, in the
New Testament, both in the gospels and in the

214 THE PERFECT HARMONY

epistles, the coming of the Lord Jesus is connected
with the national restoration and blessing of Israel, —
or, in other words, the coming of Jehovah ; and so
until we come to the blessed book of the Revelation.
There we have all summed up in this book of the
kingdom and this book of the Church. There we
see the unity of the whole record, which God has
given to us. He will come again. Jehovah means
the coming one ; and now He is called Jesus, who
was, and is, and is to come, and of whom the Church
says, " Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly."

And now, in conclusion, let me just say one word
about the attitude of the Church. In the 6th chapter
of the gospel of John, we have two miracles inti-
mately connected, — the feeding of the multitude in
the wilderness, and Christ appearing to the disciples
in the midst of the sea, when they are in the storm.
The wilderness represents the world in its poverty,
in its hunger and in its absolute destitution. It
can provide nothing for the real wants of mankind.
Jesus is there, with His disciples ; and, through the
disciples, He, with five loaves and two fishes, feeds
the multitude abundantly, so that there are basketfuls
left, — that is the word that grows and is multiplied.
Simple, mean, insignificant, powerless, altogether in-
significant, it appears to men. Weak are the dis-
ciples whom Jesus Christ makes His agents ; but the
miracle is done, and, for eighteen centuries, thousands
and thousands of hungry ones have been fed, and
have found life and strength everlasting. The sea is
the emblem of the world, not in its poverty and
hunger, but in its unrest, and in its opposition to, and
enmity against God ; and the wind and the storms
that blow are the emblems of Satan, and of all the

OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 215

agents of Satan, who do everything to destroy the
Church, And Christ is no longer in the midst of
the disciples, but on a mountain, high, apart, praying
to the Father. And the disciples are left alone in
the ship ; and it is for them to row and to toil ; but
they make no progress, for the world always remains
the same. No apologetics will bring it one inch
nearer to the end, till at last, in the fourth watch,
Jesus Himself comes; and immediately — immediately
— the ship is safe, close to shore. Amen.

XI

THE BOOKS OF ISRAEL AND OF THE CHURCH
SHOWN TO BE ORGANICALLY CONNECTED

Moses and the Prophets to be read in the light of the apostoHc writ-
ings— First principles discussed as much as ever — Agreement of
Celsus and the modern Darwinians — Weakness of modern apolo-
gists who separate Christ from the Old Testament — The double
sense of the law — The Old and New Testaments, as a stereo-
scope, give together the complete view of Jesus — Schopenhauer's
definition of a book of thought, applied to the Bible — It is or-
ganically united — The Bible not a literary production but a part
of God's dealings with Israel and the Church — The Jews cannot
now understand the Old Testament because they will not consider
it in the light of the New Testament- — The book of Israel (O.T. )
and the book of the Church (N.T.) have strong similarities in
construction — Moses' authorship of the Pentateuch shown to be
essential — The Pentateuch as historical, prophetical, etc., clearly
the basis of all the other books.

I WISH to-day, first, to offer you a few remarks, on
the present state of opposition to Christianity, and to
the Old Testament especially ; then to confirm and
illustrate, in a few words, the two positions which I
maintained in my last lecture, namely, that the one
central and leading idea which throws light, both
upon the identity of Old and New Testaments, and
also upon their contrast, is the second advent of our
blessed Lord, and that, therefore, the scriptures of
Moses and the prophets would be more properly
termed, " book of the kingdom and of Israel," and

THE TWO BOOKS ORGANICALLY CONNECTED 217

the scriptures of evangelists and apostles " book of the
Church" ; and, after having done this, I wish to show
to you the reasons, why it is both rational and accord-
ing to the will of God, that we should always read
Moses and the prophets, in the light of the apostolic
writings. And lastly, I wish to say a few words on
the structure, of both the earlier and the later books.
It may seem strange at first sight that when
Christianity has been in the world for so many
centuries, and when, almost from the beginning,
earnest and thoughtful defenders of the faith have
refuted the manifold objections, which are brought
against the truth, and have pressed with great clear-
ness, skill, and earnestness, the multiform and cumu-
lative evidence for the Gospel, the conflict between
.faith and unbelief is going on at present, as much as
in any age of the past. And this is still more strange,
when we remember that the points at issue which
are debated at the present are not secondary points,
but are points of the most elementary and funda-
mental character ; if there had been ten points at
issue between Christians and the world, and six of
these points had been established, and now there
was still controversy about four remaining secondary
points, it would not be so wonderful ; but what a
wonderful thing it is that, within the last ten or
twenty years, the points of debate are of the most
elementary character, such as whether there is a
personal God, whether revelation and miracle are
possible, whether Jesus is more than man. The
young especially are perplexed, because they are
labouring under a mistake : they fancy, that while
Christianity may have been able to hold its ground
during past centuries, such is the development of

2i8 THE BOOKS OF ISRAEL AND OF THE CHURCH

human knowledge, and of the powers of the human
mind, that we have now arrived at a height, where
Christianity is no longer tenable. They forget, as
the apostle explains to us, that the opposition of
human wisdom and reason to Christianity is not an
accidental thing, but that it is essential, and that it
is based upon the inherent character and nature,
both of Christianity and of the world. When the
apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians " Not many
wise after the flesh are called," I should like to ask
a number of people what that — " wise after the flesh "
means, and when he says that the Gospel is fool-
ishness to the Greeks, he does not imagine that that
is peculiar to his own period. He does not appeal
from his own time to future generations, who may
be more enlightened, and more wise, and more in-
clined to receive the Gospel ; but he makes a general
statement, that in every age of this dispensation,
unregenerate man is not able to understand the
things of God, and that they must be revealed to
him by the Spirit. So far, then, from being any
discouragement to us, much as we regret and lament,
that at the present day the opposition against
Christianity is as vehement and fierce, as ever it was,
and that the attacks are made on the most central
and vital points of the truth, — we see in this only a
corroboration of the testimony of the apostle, and
only a proof of what we 'all have experienced — that
no man can call Jesus Lord, save by the Holy Ghost.
■ The attacks of unbelief against Christianity,
and against the Scripture, (for to attack the Scrip-
ture is to attack Christianity), vary according to dif-
ferent modes of thought, and according to different
historical and social circumstances, as the world

SHOWN TO BE ORGANICALLY CONNECTED 219

advances. The assailants are always shifting their
ground. According to the metaphysics of the
day, their objections are framed. They are modern,
but they are never new. To corroborate this I
bring before you a very striking fact. The first
attack against Christianity in a systematic form of
which history has record is the book of Celsus,
written in the year 150 of our era, — and in this
book Celsus attacks Christianity in this way. In the
first place he says, " You tell a great many wonderful
things about Jesus. Why do you suppose, that those
wonderful things are truer, than the many fables and i
myths, which other nations and other people tell i
about their gods and demigods ? And what a strange
thing it is, that this Jesus was not able, to attach
to him so much even his own disciples, as to render
them firm in the hour of trial. And what evidence
is there of his resurrection, but the heated imagina-
tion of a woman, who was a devoted follower of his, I
and who said that she had seen a vision of the risen
one ? " Again he says, " If God " (he did not believe
in God in our sense) " is omniscient and omnipotent,
why does he require a messenger to benefit mankind ?
And what a religion is this, that addresses itself to
the ignorant, to fishermen, artisans, and poor people
that have no learning, and that addresses itself also
to people of bad character, for we know that no bad
character ever can become a good character." And
again he says, " You think far too much of man.
Why is man of so much importance, that such great
things should be done for him ? Why do you place
man so high above the animals, for we see among
the animals skill, and reason, and forethought, and
gratitude, and sagacity, — nay, some of them are

220 THE BOOKS OF ISRAEL AND OF THE CHURCH

greatly in advance of us. And what do you imagine,
that this whole world is ? Do you think that it is
better at one time than at another ? — that there is
in it purpose and progress ? The world is always
the same. The combination of things remains always
the same. It neither alters nor improves nor de-
teriorates." These things were written, after 150
years of our era. Are they not exactly like the
things, said by Strauss, against the truth of Chris-
tianity ? Is it not the voice of the Darwinian, which
we hear in every sentence? The same ideas are
presented, the same objections made, the same fun-
damental position is held. The apostles were the
teachers of all nations. The apostles never de-
scended into the territory of their opponents. They
did take notice of their objections and refuted them,
but always from the standpoint of faith. The
apostles never said, " Now we shall look at the
thing, metaphysically. We shall leave out of view
the authority of the Bible. We shall argue with
you as a metaphysician with a metaphysician, as
a logician with a logician, as a historian with
a historian," — never for a single moment. The
apostle said to the Athenians, that all the time
of their former magnificent history, full of meta-
physical speculation and of wonderful culture, was
the time of ignorance, and that God had sent him,
out of the fulness of the revealed truth, to show
to them the things of God. This, then, is, and will
be, as long as this present dispensation lasts. Truth
and unbelief will contend, and there will be no
victory acknowledged. True ! there are many
arguments brought forward in the present day,
which could never have been brought forward

SHOWN TO BE ORGANICALLY CONNECTED 221

before. The very stones are crying out. Within
the last twenty or thirty years, the evidences for the
historical truth and accuracy of the Old Testament
Scriptures, especially as to the books of Moses, have
been confirmed, in the most striking way, by the
discovery of the Assyrian and Egyptian monuments.
That is perfectly true ; but the prejudice is too deep,
and too much rooted in the very centre of the
human heart, for any of these arguments, precious
and valuable as they are, to do more than rouse
attention. After that has been aroused, there re-
mains the decision, as Christ said to* the messengers
of John the Baptist. Miracles are done. But these
miracles will never force you to believe. Miracles
arrest your attention, and then comes the decision.
" Blessed is he that is not offended in Me." The
Old Testament has been made specially the object
of attack in the present day, and it is well that it is
so. Nothing better could have happened. I will
tell you why : I believe in Jesus, and I believe the
revelation, which, through Jesus, was given to us by
the apostles, to have been not merely the word of
God, but the highest reason, — absolute wisdom and
truth. Now when I find that Jesus always founded
His claims and based His teaching, and explained all
the facts of His life, death and resurrection, by
reference to Moses and the prophets, and when I
find that the apostles, even when they went to the
heathen, who did not know Moses and the prophets,
preached to them, that Christ died and rose again
according to the Scriptures, and did not try to prove
the authenticity or divinity of the Scriptures, except
by their inherent power, — then I say there is no other
way of proving the truth, or even of stating the truth.

222 THE BOOKS OF ISRAEL AND OF THE CHURCH

but by reference to Moses and the prophets. But
in the latter days, Christian apologists have pursued
quite a different method. What they have said is
this : " There are so many objections against the Old
Testament, but, after all, it -is not of great import-
ance. Let us pitch that overboard, or, at all events,
leave it out of consideration. Let us narrow the
issue. When we speak to infidels and sceptics, let
us leave out the Old Testament. We shall say
simply, * Here is Christ, look at the character of
Christ, how noble, how perfect, how beautiful. Is
He not different from all other men ? is He not
greater than all other men ? is He not unique ? ' "
Verily He is. What follows ? They have imagined,
— that by presenting Christ apart from the soil in
which God made Him grow and spring up, apart
from the preparation for Him by the whole history
of Israel, apart from the teaching which God gave to
His people by Moses and the prophets, — by putting
Christ before men simply as a human picture,
appealing to human reason, as if He had dropped
down from the heavens, — they would gain the
assent of people. What assent is gained ? Assent
is gained, but of what nature ? To do justice
to the Unitarians, and to the old rationalists in
Germany, they had a most sincere admiration of the
beauty of Christ's character, and they were ex-
ceedingly skilful, in showing the wonderful features
of His moral excellence, harmony, and perfection.
They were quite sincere and enthusiastic about it.
But between Christ being the best man, and Christ
being the Son of God, — between these positions, there
is no bridge. Faith must bridge it over, and faith
can only bridge it over, when we see that Christ is

SHOWN TO BE ORGANICALLY CONNECTED 223

the One who is alone the fulfilment of that constant
series of condescending, redemptive manifestations, of
which the Old Testament is the record. But now God
compels these half-and-half Christian apologists, —
by the unbelieving world attacking the Old Testa-
ment,— to do what they ought to have done from the
beginning, because Christ and the apostles plainly
impressed it, — and not to imagine that their philo-
sophical method is superior to that which God Him-
self has laid down. This is a very important point,
and those of you who know what is going on in the
churches, and have watched things for the last twenty
or thirty years, will see that it does not merely
involve apologetics, but it refers to the whole mode
of preaching and teaching the blessed Gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ. The ark sometimes fell into
the hands of the Philistines, but the Philistines
could not do anything with the ark of God. It was
of no use to them. Sooner or later they must hand
it back to Israel. The interpretation of Scripture
will receive no benefit or light, worth .speaking of,
but from the Church of Jesus Christ herself. It is
quite true, for I wish to do justice to all, that the
rationalists, looking upon the Bible as a human
book, and studying the Bible diligently and labor-
iously, with a vast amount of philological and historical
erudition and skill, have brought out many valu-
able facts, and have established many very valuable
interpretations. It is also true that another school
of interpretation, looking at the Bible from the
aesthetic and poetical point of view, like that
great man Heine, have contributed much to the
understanding of Scripture. It is further true that
the best exponent of the modern critical treatment

ft24 THE BOOKS OF ISRAEL AND OF THE CHURCH

of the Old Testament, Ewald, a man of profound
earnestness and moral elevation, finding in the
Old Testament the expression of the highest in-
tuitions and religious aspirations of the human
mind, but not a supernatural inspiration from above,
has brought out much, both of the spirit and of the
letter of the old history and of the old teaching.
But the real light on the Scripture can only proceed
from those who, by the selfsame Holy Ghost which
breathed the Scriptures, have been taught to believe
the things, that are contained in the Scriptures,

Why did the Reformers, as it were, introduce a
new era, in the understanding and interpretation of
Scripture ? Because they had hold of the central
idea, — justification by faith in Jesus Christ. If
you have anything, that Scripture teaches, firmly
established in your mind, it will throw light upon
the whole Scripture. For instance, the doctrine of
the Holy Ghost. Well, from Genesis to the book
of Revelation, if you have that doctrine of the Holy
Ghost clearly established in your mind, you will see
a unity, a comprehensiveness, an organic illustration
of that doctrine, which will confirm your faith in the
whole Scripture. Now, what I asserted in my last lec-
ture, and what I have asserted ever since I have'been in
the ministry, and hope to assert as long as God may
spare me, is this — that the one central point, and the
highest point from which the whole of Moses and the
prophets, and the whole of the gospels, epistles, and
Apocalypse, can be comprehended, both in their unity
and in their diversity, is the glorious appearing of the
great God and Saviour — Jehovah coming to Israel,
to Jerusalem, to restore the kingdom to the nation —
Jesus, that Jehovah, coming to the Church to receive

SHOWN TO BE ORGANICALLY CONNECTED 225

the saints, that they in heavenly places may reign
with Him.

As I reminded you, to call the books of Moses
and the prophets " Old Testament " is liable to be
misunderstood, although I do not say that it is in-
correct. Jesus Christ used the expression, " Moses
and the prophets," "Moses,, the prophets, and the
Psalms," and " the Scriptures," and so did the apostles.
But there is no authority for saying " Old
Testament " or " New Testament." In the ancient
Church they called what we call the New Testa-
ment " Gospel and Epistle," because, first, they laid
almost exclusive importance on the writings of Paul,
who was the apostle of the Gentiles. But as
" Testament " is generally understood by people in
the sense of covenant, and tJiey fancy that Old
Testament means that these books refer to law, I
must remind you of what you all know. Law,
in Scripture, in the New Testament especially,
has two significations — a narrow and a large
one. In its narrow meaning, it is that which
is opposed to gospel — the works of the law, the
covenant of works. " Do this and thou shalt live :
if you do not do this you are under the curse."
Therefore the apostle says, " They that are under
the law are under a curse. The law worketh wrath.
The law is the strength of sin." Only think of the
Pharisee, Saul, saying this of the law. It sounds
almost blasphemous. " The law worketh wrath :
the law is the strength of sin. They that are under
the law are under the curse." Was Abraham, then,
under the law, or Moses, or David, or Isaiah, and were
they under a curse ? Was the law to them the
strength of sin ? Of course not, as little as to the

Q

226 THE BOOKS OF ISRAEL AND OF THE CHURCH

apostle Paul and the apostle John, for we believe
that the saints of God, from beginning to end, are
saved by grace, through faith in the Redeemer. But
there is another sense in which we use the word
" law." When David says that he delights himself
in the law of the Lord, he means the whole teaching
and all the institutions of God, — God as the Redeemer,
the propitiatory sacrifice, — all the teaching of God
that He has given to us. And, more than that, the
apostle Paul says, " We have a righteousness apart
from the law," and this righteousness, apart from the
law, is witnessed not merely by the prophets, but by
the law, and the prophets. Therefore, that very law
declares not merely that if a man transgresses the
law he is under a curse, but also that there
is a divine righteousness, apart from any works,
given to every one that believeth. It is in this
sense that John says, " The law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." There
are thus, you see, two things corresponding to law.
The law consists of two things. As a covenant
of works, it is condemnation. Grace came by Jesus
Christ. As a type of the Gospel it contains promises,
figures, types, and shadows. By Jesus Christ came
the substance or the fulfilment. Therefore, in this
respect, although there is a contrast between the two,
and although the one is only the germ and the other
is the fruit, the one the promise and the other the
fulfilment, yet the two go together. But the dis-
tinguishing feature, and that which will remain
as long as the world stands, is this : Moses and the
prophets have written the books of Israel, and
the evangelists and apostles have written the books
of the Church ; in the one Jehovah, in the other

SHOWN TO BE ORGANICALLY CONNECTED 227

Jesus ; in the one Israel and the nations, in the other
an election from among all nations — not a nation but
the body of Christ ; the one pertaining to the earthly,
the other pertaining to heaven. When you take
this view you will' see that Moses and the prophets
are not merely a ladder by which we get up to a
higher platform, and then can do without the ladder ;
but that, after they have served the purpose of
explaining to you the New Testament of Jesus
Christ, they have a substantive importance and
position in themselves, which will always continue.
What I aim at in these lectures is to show to you
that the Bible is not an aggregate of literary pro-
ductions, but that it is the testimony and voice of
the living One who is to come again — a book of
history which is not yet completed. And when we
call the one the book of Israel, you see the Jews
scattered among all the nations of the earth — the
problem of their future not yet solved. And when
we call the other the book of the Church, I trust
that you feel that you are members of that vast
community which says, " Come, Lord Jesus ; come
quickly."

Now I must pass on to the next point. I have
used many comparisons to show the relation of the
one book to the other, but I will now add a tenth,
to the nine that I have already mentioned, and it is
this. A stereoscope contains two different aspects
of the same object, but it is of no use looking at the
stereoscopic picture with one eye. You must look at
it with both eyes, and then the figure will stand out
as a solid plastic reality. And that is exactly the
way in which Jesus Christ stands out. When we
see the view taken of Him by Moses and the

22S THE BOOKS OF ISRAEL AND OF THE CHURCH

prophets — as the coming Jehovah — and when we
see the view taken of Him by the apostles — as the
returning Jesus — then we see the historic reaHty, for
we must always study the ancient Scriptures in the
light of the new. And as this is a very important
point in the present day I am going to ask your
attention to the reasons which I have for this ; for
all our learned friends tell us that we must read
Moses and the prophets, as we read any other book
of antiquity, and quite apart from the impressions
made upon us by the words of Jesus and of the
apostles. Now, in the first place, what I say to this
is, that it is very irrational and unphilosophical from
our point of view. A few years ago I was reading
the works of Schopenhauer, the great German
Buddhist philosopher. His system of the universe
of knowledge and will, he has embodied in two very
large volumes, and in the preface he says, " There
is only one idea in these two volumes." He tried
to express it as lucidly and as briefly as possible,
— and this was the result. I would ask your
special attention to what he says. I have translated
it from the German, so you must excuse the style.
'' A system of thoughts must have an architectonic
structure, in which one part supports the other, but is
not supported by it. The foundation supports the
whole, but is itself not supported. The top stone is
supported, but it supports nothing." That is one
style of book. We are first to lay down a few
axioms or admitted positions, that have to bear the
structure of the whole. Then you go on : " What
you put upon it is supported by the foundation, but
does not support the foundation. But there is
another kind of book which is this. A work con-

SHOWN TO BE ORGANICALLY CONNECTED 229

sisting of one idea, however comprehensive, must
possess perfect unity. It may consist of parts, but
they must be organically connected, so that each
part supports the whole and is supported by the
whole. No part is, so to say, first, and no part is
last. The whole is illustrated by every minute part,
and even the smallest part cannot be rightly under-
stood unless the whole has been comprehended."
What he means is this : " If a work consists of one
idea, although that one idea is very comprehensive and
has many ramifications, then the only way in which
it can be set forth is as an organism. The whole
idea will be in every part. The beginning cannot
be properly understood unless you know also the
end. The smaller and less important parts cannot be
properly understood unless ^you know the whole.
They throw light upon the whole, as the whole
throws light upon them. In this case nothing can
be done " (now listen to this) " but to read the book
twice, and the first time with much patience, which
can only be obtained by a freely granted confidence
that the beginning presupposes the end, as much as
the end presupposes the beginning, and the earlier
part the later. Although each part may be as
clearly expressed as is possible, yet its relation to
the whole cannot be seen at first. When you read
it the second time, all will appear in clear light."
When I read this preface some years ago, I said,
" That man has exactly explained the philosophy of
the Bible." The Holy Ghost inspired the book. God
is the Author of the book. You must read it the first
time with a full conviction that you can understand
it only partially, for it is organically united. He, by
whom the first three chapters of Genesis were inspired

230 THE BOOKS OF ISRAEL AND OF THE CHURCH

saw in His mind, the three last chapters of the book
of Revelation. " God who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake unto the fathers by the
prophets hath, in these last days, spoken unto us by
his Son." And therefore when we have read the
whole, and when we have got the solution and the
key in the New Testament, then we must return
again to the book of Genesis and read Moses and
the prophets, in the light that God has given us
throughout. The same Author ; every minute part
illustrated by the whole ; the whole shedding light
upon every minute part. Were, then, the apostles
right in their method ? Let us go back to the
Lord. He opened their understanding that they
might understand the Scriptures. He explained
unto them His own person and His own history
beginning at Moses — that through sufferings He
must enter into glory. These dear apostles, even
while they were seeing Jesus and beholding the
things of Scripture fulfilled, did not understand
the Scripture. Why did they not understand
the Scripture ? They knew Hebrew, as well as
any Hebrew scholar of the present day. What
made them not understand the Scripture ? Because
the Holy Ghost was not given, and Christ had not
yet risen.

I will give you a second reason, and that second
reason quite as strong and as cogent as the first. I
must say again that the Bible is not a literary
production. The Bible is part of God's dealings
with Israel and with the Church. Therefore every
portion of Scripture, as it first appeared, had already
an audience prepared for it, a circle of readers who
were under the divine training, and the circumstances.

SHOWN TO BE ORGANICALLY CONNECTED 231

in which they hved, gave them the key to under-
stand the books, which were sent to them. Now,
the readers of the five books of Moses were still in
circumstances, which made it suitable that they
should have nothing else but the five books of
Moses. The readers, on the other hand, of the
Gospel knew already that Jesus was the Son of God,
and the Saviour. It was to those who, through the
apostles, had obtained the knowledge of Christ that
the Gospel record was sent. Before Christ came, of
course, the Jews could do nothing else but read
Moses and the prophets. They had no more. But
now remember that Christ has come ; Jerusalem is
destroyed ; the temple has vanished. There is no
more, the high-priest going into the Holy of Holies on
the day of atonement. Paschal lambs are no longer
offered. The whole Levitical dispensation has dis-
appeared. Israel is no longer in their own land.
The circumstances in which the Jews now read the
Old Testament prevent their understanding the Old
Testament, without their acceptance of the New. It
is impossible that they should understand the Old
Testament. Why ? Because of its not being a mere
literary production, but the address of the living God
to His people, in accordance with the circumstances
and stage of history in which they are ; and that
stage of history, when the old scriptures were given,
having passed away, it is impossible that they should
understand Moses and the prophets, — and the fact
has corroborated this. They do not understand
them. I have shown you before, that the very idea
of God has been changed in the Jewish synagogue ;
that, instead of His being a living, condescending,
self-communicating, friendly, redeeming God, He is

232 THE BOOKS OF ISRAEL AND OF THE CHURCH

regarded as an abstract conception of unity. The
whole idea of the law has been changed. As the
apostle says, the law is spiritual, but with the Jews
the law has become a conglomeration of ceremonies,
a number of precepts and injunctions. The feeling
of the necessity of propitiation, of atonement, has
vanished altogether, because, for eighteen centuries,
nothing has reminded them of sacrifice ; and, to
accommodate themselves to their circumstances, they
have changed the idea of sacrifice, into the mere offer-
ing of thankfulness. The expectation of the Messiah
also has disappeared, for, seeing that He came at the
time when, according to the prophets, He must have
come, — and seeing that the Christians have always
applied and urged these predictions, they have been
obliged to invent other interpretations, in which the
idea of the personal Messiah altogether departs
into the background. A burnt child dreads the
fire, and if the whole Jewish nation, with all their
Hebrew learning, and with all the instinctive
understanding which, after all, is still in their
blood, have, for eighteen centuries, misinterpreted
the Old Testament because they will not consider
it, in the light of the New Testament, I have
no hope of the Gentiles understanding the Old
Testament, without the New Testament ; for if
we do not go to the Old Testament with the
light, and the ideas of the historical facts, furnished
to us in the New, let no man imagine, for that
reason, that we go to it as little children, without
any conceptions, prejudices, oppositions, and theories
of our own. The practice of the Church of Christ
from the beginning, based upon the example of
Christ and the prophets, is binding upon us as

SHOWN TO BE ORGANICALLY CONNECTED 233

Christians, commends itself to us as thinkers, and
is ratified and corroborated by the experience of
the Jews.

The last topic I can only briefly allude to, and
it is this. The ancient books and the new books,
the book of Israel and the book of the Church,
have exactly the same structure. No twins could
be more alike, in figure and in feature. It is
God who is the beginning, who redeems, who
teaches, who guides, who commands ; first come
the manifestations of God in creation, in the
promise of redemption, in the election of Abra-
ham, in the bringing of Israel out of Egypt, in the
planting of the tabernacle, and of the whole Levitical
dispensation — the mighty acts, words, institutions,
gifts, and promises vouchsafed by God through Moses.
That is the foundation. After that there comes
the history, — how these promises were carried out
into actual reality and appropriated by the nation, —
with all their backslidings. This is in the so-called
historical books, or, as the Jews rail them, the earlier
prophets. Then there is in the book of Psalms the
response of the believer to what God has said, —
then, the promise of the fulfilment and consumma-
tion of all God's purposes in the prophets. The
order is the same in the New Testament. F'irst
comes, not what men think about God, but the
incarnation, the history of Christ on earth. His
death, resurrection, and ascension, the four gospels,
just like the five books of Moses. Then there
comes the history of how this was appropriated and
actually carried out, the book of Acts, the planting
of the Church in Israel, the planting of the Church
among the Gentiles, and the response of believers to

234 THE BOOKS OF ISRAEL AND OF THE CHURCH

what is revealed, given in the various epistles, so that
the epistles, to a certain extent, take the position
of the Psalms — as the response of faith unto the
great things of God. And then at last there comes
the Apocalypse, showing how all the promises will
be fulfilled. This is the first point.

The second point is this. In both Testaments, the
beginning contains in germ everything that follows.
Here we come to Schopenhauer's idea. All that is in
the later historical books and in the prophets, is in the
five books of Moses ; and all that is in the Acts and
in the epistles and in the Apocalypse, is also in the
four gospels. And the position of Moses as an indi-
vidual, as the person, as the man that wrote the
books, is most important, for he is not like any
other prophet. It is perfectly indifferent who wrote
the 2nd book of Samuel or the Chronicles, but it is
not indifferent who wrote the five books of Moses.
Moses wrote them ; for this Moses is not merely a
law-giver ; he is not merely a prophet ; he is every-
thing in one person. He is the human mediator
upon whom the whole structure of the Jewish history
and of the teaching of God in Israel rests. And in
the books of Moses you find everything. There is
no prophecy given by the later prophets which is
not already contained in the books of Moses — as,
for instance, that Israel shall be called back from
all the ends of the earth, and by the grace and
spirit of God become again His people, and that all
families of the earth shall be blessed in the seed of
Abraham, and that God shall finally bruise Satan
under our feet, when the Lord comes. All are in
the books of Moses. And in the same way the
gospels contain all the teaching, afterwards more

SHOWN TO BE ORGANICALLY CONNECTED 235

fully developed, and all the predictions which are
in the subsequent parts, namely, the epistles, etc.

The third thing is this. Strictly speaking, all those
elements are in all the books of Scripture ; that is to
say, there are no books of which we can say, " These
are simply historical " ; or books of which we can
say, " These are simply prophetical " ; or books of
which we can say, " These are simply lyrical " ; but
all the books, and everything as I have said, united
together, planted together, wrought in together, with
the most exquisite harmony — not with the harmony
which we see in a book of genius, although that is a
kind of illustration, but with the harmony which we
see in everything, on which God has breathed the
breath of life. " Consider the lilies of the field."
Why? Because God has clothed them, and there-
fore their beauty is iimch greater than anything,
which architecture or art of any kind can produce.
The books of Moses are history ; the books of
Moses are teaching ; the books of Moses are pro-
phecy. The Psalms are not merely prayers, but
prophecy. In the books of the prophets we have
history. Thus, in the prophet Isaiah, the history of
Hezekiah ; in the prophet Jeremiah, the history of
his own days ; in the prophet Daniel the history
of God's manifestations, at the court of the pagan
monarchs. And so it is also in the other Book. The
gospels contain history and teaching and response,
like the psalms of Mary and of Zacharias and of
Simeon. And as to prophecy — the epistles are full
of prophecy, until, at last, all the prophecy of the
later scripture culminates in the Apocalypse, as the
former scriptures had done in Daniel, the man greatly
beloved, in whose book not merely Israel's future

236 THE BOOKS OF ISRAEL AND OF THE CHURCH

is predicted, but the future of the whole world ; —
so all the scattered prophecy in the gospels and
the epistles, and in the whole preceding scripture, cul-
minates in that book which, in the latter days, as it
was in the first ages of the Church, will become the
beloved book of the Church — the revelation which
God gave to His Son Jesus Christ.

And now let me just say one word about our
Lord's return. Oh, not as a question of exegesis,
not as a topic of polemic discussion, does it behove
us to speak of this great, solemn, and most blessed
hope. " Surely I come quickly." Of all announce-
ments of Scripture it is the one that most stirs
up the depths of our conscience and of our
heart. Sometimes, when we feel overwhelmed with
a sense of our sin, unworthiness, and unfaithfulness,
the question arises, " And am I one of the wise
virgins who have oil in their lamps, and shall I be
numbered among those that arc ready to go in when
the Bridegroom comes ? " And at other times when,
by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy
Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are the
sons of God, the solemnity is even more overwhelm-
ing in its sweetness and blessedness. And is it pos-
sible that He, whom having not seen we love, shall
be at last seen by us face to face — that we shall
see Him as He is — not as at present, by laboriously
combining all the different aspects of His wonderful
person and work, but by a glance, by an immediate
vision, by the complete and comprehensive under-
standing of our enlarged and glorified faculties, be-
hold Him as He is, and be like Him ? Meanwhile,
to us who have this hope, and who by this hope are
entirely separated from the present age — not merely

SHOWN TO BE ORGANICALLY CONNECTED 237

in its wickedness, but also in its pretended goodness ;
not merely in its frivolity, but also in its wisdom and
in its culture — unto us poor, isolated, unknown, and
enigmatic people there is the Word of God, the holy
and beloved Scriptures of the prophets and of, the
apostles ; and ye do well to take heed to them as
unto a light shining in a dark place, until you see
the bright morning star ; and when that morning
star comes, soon shall the Sun of Righteousness rise
with healing in His wings, to bring us gladness,
strength, and power to glorify God, and to reign
with the Lord Jesus on the earth. Amen.

XII

OUR FAITH BASED ON FACTS— AND THE BIBLE A
BOOK OF FACTS

All the things we believe and hope for based on actual facts — The
name Jehovah itself speaks not only of the being of God but of
His having become the God of History, and also the God that is
coming — The Bible connected with all branches of knowledge —
The true idiom of history acquired from the Bible — Ranke on the
loth chapter of Genesis — The programme of history given in the
Bible — Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream — The
reality of the history of the Old Testament — It professes to be
actual history — Difficulty regarding it to those who do not believe
in God, as the living God — Nothing about Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob of a mythical type — It is human history with its light and
darkness, — intensely human and natural — It is simple and plain,
without embellishment, eloquent only in the unadorned eloquence
of facts — It is condemnatory of the nation among whom it
appeared — There is no hero-worship — It hides nothing of the
sins of those most commended — The testimony and truth of the
genealogies — Recent confirmations — Evidence of veracity of Bible
history accumulating every day.

There are two points which I wish to bring before
you this morning — that the Scripture history supplies
us with the facts and principles, upon which all true
philosophical and universal history is based. And
the second point is this — that the history, recorded
in the books of Moses, and of the other writers, of the
ancient dispensation, contains actual and real history.
In my last lecture I endeavoured to show why
it is that we cannot understand Moses and the

OUR FAITH BASED ON FACTS

239

prophets, without the apostolic Hght of the gospels
and the epistles, — and to this I wish only to add
one remark. Nothing can be said in stronger terms,
concerning the evangelical history of the ancient
Scriptures, than the simple remark which the apostle
Paul made to Timothy, that the Scriptures " are able
to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which
is in Christ Jesus." And although there are many
things, both in the ancient history and in the ancient
prophecy, which will be fully explained and mani-
fested, only at the second coming of our blessed
Saviour, still, as we are told both by the apostle
Paul and by the apostle Peter, the whole Old Testa-
ment was written, in order that it may be understood
by the Church of Jesus Christ, who live in the latter
days, and unto whom there has been granted the
privilege of seeing the fulfilment of God's promise ;
for so the apostle Peter says with regard to prophecy
— that through suffering the Messiah should enter
into that glory, — that it was revealed to the prophets
that not to themselves, but to us, they did testify of
these things. And of the ancient history, the
apostle Paul declares in his epistle to the Romans
that all these things happened for our example, and
were written for our admonition, upon whom the
ends of the world have come. Seeing, therefore,
that we have the fulness of the Gospel light, and
that there have been manifested to us these histories,
it is for us to enter into the consideration of Moses
and the prophets, in the full assurance and expecta-
tion, that the Holy Ghost has there treasured up for
us, all that is profitable and needful for our instruction
and guidance, in connection with that fuller develop-
ment of history and teaching, which we now possess.

240 OUR FAITH BASED ON FACTS —

A combination of history, teaching, prophecy,
with the subjective response of the congregation, both
in works of reflection and in the lyrical outpourings
of their feelings, is something altogether unique ; and
it is a combination which corresponds to all the
different wants and necessities of mankind, as they
arise in the course of centuries ; and, while it corre-
sponds with our need, it is the only kind of book of
revelation, worthy of Him from whom it emanates.
Ideas without facts make up a philosophy. Facts
without ideas may make up a history. But that
which we need is something which appeals not merely
to our intellect, but also to our conscience and to
our heart, and that which so appeals must be the
revelation of God. And, if it is the revelation of
God, it can only be the revelation of God, coming
down out of His infinite eternity, into our time and
into our space. It must record the initiative, creative,
and redemptive acts of the Most High ; and, in re-
cording these acts, it must contain a revelation of
His character, and of His purpose, of His command-
ments concerning us, and of the promises, by which
He sustains us. And only in Scripture have we
such a combination. All Scripture facts are full of
ideas. So to speak they are full of eyes, and light
shines to us in them. And all Scripture ideas, the
things which we believe and the things which we
hope for, are based upon actual facts — manifestations
of the Most High. If a Christian is asked, "What
is your belief? what is your faith?" he does not
answer by enumerating dogmas, in the sense of
abstract philosophical truths ; but he answers by
saying that he believes in God who created, in God
who became incarnate, and died, and rose again, and

AND THE BIBLE A BOOK OF FACTS 241

in God who sent the Holy Ghost to renew his
heart. So what is our creed but facts, but such
facts as are full of light, — and in which God manifests
Himself to us ?

Again, the name of God, and that name, which
we should not know without the Bible, is " Jehovah " ;
and " Jehovah " has this meaning — first, that He
is sovereign, self- subsisting, and eternal ; but,
secondly, that He has become the God of history,
and is in history ; and, thirdly, that He is the God
who is coming, who is fulfilling His promises, and
who will consummate all the counsel which was in
Him in eternity. And as this simple name, Jehovah,
contains all Scripture history, all Scripture teach-
ing, and all Scripture prophecy, so the people who
accept this name " Jehovah "iive in the past, and
in the present, and in the future. To live merely
in the past by memory is a kind of death, in which
there is no activity, but simply regret. To live
merely in the present, without remembering the past
and looking forward to the future, is unworthy of man,
who was created in the image of God. To think
merely of the future is simply a work of imagina-
tion and reverie. But past, present, and future,
— Jehovah who was, Jehovah who is, and Jehovah
who is to come — this is what fills up the whole of
man. He lives by memory ; he lives by present
communion ; he lives by hope ; and all the saints of
God from Enoch, the seventh from Adam, until those
who shall be alive at Christ's coming, remember the
merciful deeds of God in the past, live in com-
munion with the present-living God, and look for-
ward to the glorious consummation of God's purposes.
So all Scripture must be viewed in the light of

242 OUR FAITH BASED ON FACTS—

history ; and in this history, — teaching, prophecy, and
the response of the congregation are comprehended.

The Bible is a book separate from all other books,
and high above all other books. That is quite true.
On the other hand, the Bible is connected with all
other books in the world ; and, as all things must
work together for good to them that love God, so
all books that are written, even those that are written
against the Bible, contribute to the corroboration
and to the illustration of the Scriptures. Joseph
was considered a dreamer and very ambitious, and
yet, after all, his dream was fulfilled that all the
sheaves of his brethren did obeisance before his sheaf.
And thus is it that all books that ever were written, on
whatever subject, must contribute to show forth that
Scripture is the book of books. As a French socialist
who had no faith in Scripture has said, " It is a strange
thing that we cannot think on any subject but in a
few minutes we come to theology."

So far, then, from granting that Scripture does
not encourage the cultivation of our faculties, and
the zealous investigation of truth in all its different
departments, we see that Scripture is the very basis
upon which all activity of mind is founded, and that
all books are written in order that this one book
may be understood ; for there is no book in the
world which so encourages the use of our reason, and
the active employment of all the mental faculties
that God has bestowed upon us. It sets a high value
on knowledge, and it continually counsels us to get
wisdom. As a revelation addressing itself to man,
an intellectual and responsible being, it at once
quickens all his powers, and wherever the Bible has
been, human knowledge has made progress.

AND THE BIBLE A BOOK OF FACTS 243

Although the Bible does not interfere in any way,
with all those different branches of knowledge with
which man is occupied, it connects itself with them
all. No book in the world exhibits such a love
of nature, such a diligent and careful observation
of nature, as Scripture — such is the testimony of
Alexander Von Humboldt, — and yet Scripture does
not come into conflict or collision with any inves-
tigation or with any intellectual activity, — defining
exactly the limits which must be assigned to them,
and reserving for itself that special place which, as
a revelation from God, belongs to it.

In my next lecture, when I have to speak on
the miraculous character of Scripture, I shall en-
deavour to show that this applies especially to
science, and that not merely is there no collision
between Scripture and science, but that without
the scriptural idea of God and this world, and of
this world forming one whole or cosmos, there would
be no legitimate and thorough foundation, upon which
science could build its superstructure. To-day my
subject is rather with regard to history.

The Bible history is peculiar. It is a theological
history. The selection of evidence, and the way in
which the evidences are narrated, show that all the
historical books were written by men of the prophetic
spirit. It aims at illustrating God's dealings with
men. It desires to show how the salvation which
is in Jesus Christ was prepared. It wishes to lay
down all the threads which are to be taken up, when
the whole counsel of God shall be fulfilled.

But although the Scripture pursues its method thus,
it throws light upon history in general. What is
history ? There is a very natural tendency of man to

244 OUR FAITH BASED ON FACTS —

write down events which strike him as remarkable.
It is a natural thing for a family to keep a chronicle
or a diary of things that happen, and to preserve
genealogies. The Egyptians could not allow any-
thing remarkable to pass, without writing down an
accurate description of it. There is a chronicle
style of history which we trace in most ancient
nations — exceedingly tiresome, because there is
constant repetition, which, in the course of centuries,
becomes endless — dynasty succeeding dynasty, war
following upon war, and the different vicissitudes and
the different developments of various branches, barely
recorded. The Romans and the Greeks had a higher
style of history, yet, after all, the Romans and the
Greeks did not reach the true method of history, for
in the true method of history, it is necessary that the
whole human race should be regarded as forming one
family, — and the ancient nations had not this idea at
all. They thought that, in the various countries of
which they had any knowledge, the inhabitants, as
it were, had sprung out of the earth, and that they
were not connected with the nations of other
countries, so that the Greeks looked down upon all
the rest of the world as barbarians, and the Romans
looked down upon all the rest of the world, as people
to be subjugated to their empire. The true idea
of history as it lives now among us, even among
people who do not know whence they have obtained
that idea, is this — that humanity is a unity, and
that events not merely succeed each other with
constant iteration, but that there is a purpose in
them ; in fact, that history leads to some goal and
to some end. And also we have got this idea, that
it would be altogether impossible and unprofitable

AND THE BIBLE A BOOK OF FACTS 245

simply to chronicle all the events which happen
to all the different nations and tribes of the
earth, and that our great object is to select those 1
nations, and to select those events, which stand, in
direct and vital connection, with the whole stream of
history, and which contribute something to the de-
velopment of the whole race. During the last years
there has appeared a history which has astonished
and delighted the civilised world. The veteran his-
torian, Ranke, has attempted to write a world-history
— a history of history, selecting only those nations,
and, in those nations, only those events and movements,
which have contributed to the general history ; but
whence did Ranke and all other modern historians
get that idea, but from the Bible ? Mark this : from
the Bible : nowhere else. I had occasion to quote to
you the words of a great man of science — that the '
beginning and the end of things are both absolutely
hidden to science. Science has to do with pheno-
mena, but the beginning of things and the end of things
are both absolutely untouchable by science. The same
may be said of history ; and yet, unless we know
the beginning of our race, the unity of our race, and
that all the different nations of the world are related
to one another, how is it possible for us to conceive '
the idea of a world-history ? Again, unless we have
the idea of providence, — of God, who sees the end
from the beginning, who guides and overrules things
for His own glory, and for the good of humanity —
it is a hopeless thing to read history. It leads to
nothing. It is like a vessel that is drifting, tossed
to and fro by the waves of the sea, without having
some one to guide it, and bring it to its appointed
CToal.

246 OUR FAITH BASED ON FACTS—

But, thirdly, what is that end, and what is that
goal ? What a curious thing it is that before
geography had made any great progress, the Bible
anticipated that the whole earth would be inhabited,
that the uttermost ends of the earth would be
peopled, and that the whole earth would be united
in the knowledge and worship of one God, and in
righteousness, and in prosperity. You remember
that Moses said, that when the Most High divided
to the sons of Adam their inheritance. He did it
according to the number of the children of Israel.
And this is the very thing that the apostle Paul
preached to the Athenians — the philosophy of
history. He says, " God has made of one blood
all the nations of the earth " — not, as you imagine,
that you Athenians are of a different blood from the
barbarians. Not merely has He done this, but He
fixed the bounds of their habitations, as well as
regulated the different periods and epochs of their
history. Here you have a chronology, and here
you have a geography, and here you have a teleology
which is of that purpose or aim, that alone gives eyes
to history. Without it, history would be like a body
without eyes. Is it not a wonderful thing ?

And as for the beginning of the human race, no
inquiring mind, no lover of humanity, no enthusiastic
pursuer of history, can rest satisfied without asking
himself the question : What was the beginning of the
human race ? All things in both physiology and
ethnology, as well as in all the sciences which bear
upon the subject, confirm the idea of the unity of the
human race, and also that all human language was
originally one. Max Miiller has often asserted that
the more languages are examined, notwithstanding

AND THE BIBLE A BOOK OF FACTS 247

all their diversity, the more it is seen that they
consist of a very few elementary roots, and that they
must all have originated in one common source ;
and as another philologer says, it is just as when
an earthquake has come, and has broken up what
formerly was one continuous mass : you see the
parts are diverse, but you see that they formerly
were a unity.

The loth chapter of the book of Genesis is a
very remarkable chapter. Before God leaves, as it
were, the nations to themselves, and begins to deal
with Israel, His chosen people from Abraham down-
wards. He takes a loving farewell of all the nations
of the earth, as much as to say, " I am going to
leave you for a while, but I love you : I have created
you : I have ordered all your future " ; and their
different genealogies are traced. Ranke says of this
chapter, " It is impossible to read this chapter with-
out seeing, that there is something here different from
all other history, and that the national pride and
separation, which we see everywhere else, has here
been entirely subjugated by the religious idea, that
all the different tribes of the earth are related to one
another, by their common descent from Shem, Ham
and Japheth."

More than that. The end of history is given to
us in Scripture, — and here it is. Whereas, as I have
said before, the common view of history that is taken
in the world, and taken also by many Christians, is
the real reason why the Bible is not believed, and
why many who profess to believe the Bible, if they
knew what was in the Bible, would also reject it.
But the history of the world is given to us in
Scripture, without entering into the history of the

248 OUR FAITH BASED ON FACTS—

different nations. That was not necessary. For that
we do not require a revelation — as to write a history
of the Greeks, and of the French, and of the Russians.
That we can do ourselves. But to show us what
is the programme, what is the divine idea, what is the
real way and purpose of this history — for that we do
require the teaching of the Most High.

Now, this is the history. From the fall of Adam
there goes down a line in which judgment succeeds
judgment. There is also a line in which deliverance
and grace succeed deliverance and grace. The fall of
Adam, the banishment from Paradise, the wickedness
of the world in the days of Noah ; the Flood ; the
judgment on the Tower of Babel ; the judgment upon
Israel at the destruction of Jerusalem ; the judgment
upon an apostate Christendom and the anti-Christ,
when our Lord comes. This is the downward line.
But there is an upward line of grace. There are the
Sethites, who called upon the name of Jehovah. In
the Flood, Noah and his household are saved to form
the beginning of a new period. After the destruction
of Babel, Abraham is selected to form again the
beginning of a new period. After the destruction of
Jerusalem, we have already a church both of Jews and
Gentiles to form the beginning of history till after the
coming of Christ, to destroy the anti-Christ with his
might and power, and to judge the anti-Christian
nations. There is the godly remnant of Israel, there
are the nations of the earth, and there is the Church
of Christ, which is transformed and with Christ.

The Babylonish captivity is an event of great
importance in God's plan of history. Babel at first
was the human race combining their own resources
of strength and wisdom and culture, for the Cajnites

AAW THE BIBLE A BOOK OF FACTS 249

were the beginning of culture, music, and art. It is
the combination of humanity, relying upon their own
power, wisdom, and culture, to form an independent
and united organism, without God ; and from that
day, Babel became a type of the world-power as
opposing God, until at last we read in the book of
Revelation, " Babylon is fallen, is fallen."

Now, when Babel was judged, Abraham rose.
Again, when Israel was judged Babylon rose. From
the time that Israel was led into captivity, until Christ
comes again and restores Israel to His own land, is
one period. It is " the times of the Gentiles," during
which there is no outward and visible theocracy or
Christocracy. This was revealed in a dream to
Nebuchadnezzar, which was interpreted by the Most
High to Daniel, the " man greatly beloved." And
here we have an outline of the whole history of the
world — gold, silver, brass, iron, clay. Outside this
seen world, there comes a crisis, and this passes away
and there comes a new crisis. This shows us the
outward character of the world-kingdom, which, con-
trary to our usual idea, is not a progressive but a
deteriorating one, for the metals deteriorate as we go
on, by which we are taught — that a nation which
is extremely civilised and advanced may, in God's
estimation, be much inferior to a nation, which is
only at the beginning of this process. Civilisation
is a very good thing. That we have railways, and
telegraphs, and intercourse between nation and nation,
is of great importance. But though many live by
those things, rely upon those things, boast of those
things, and think that these are the kingdom of
God, it is perfectly evident that such is not God's
estimate. Such is not even the verdict of history, for

250 OUR FAITH BASED ON FACTS—

the most civilised nations, as Greece and Rome,
perished by their very civilisation. The things in
which the life of a nation consists are righteousness
and justice, reverence and obedience to the sanctity
of the family life, — and not culture. Let the whole
race of Adam reach the highest point of civilisation
and unity, and it may be, as the Colossus, ready for
destruction.

But the 7th chapter of Daniel shows us the in-
ward character of the world-kingdoms, namely, Baby-
lonian, Persian, Grseco-Macedonian, and lastly Roman,
under which we still live. They have to be com-
pared to beasts ; that is to say, they have not the
character of humanity. They are strong ; they are
cunning ; they are wise ; but they have not the mind
and heart of man, until the Son of Man comes down
from heaven, and unto Him is given the dominion.
That is the Scripture sketch of history.

Now here I have left out the consideration of the
Christian Church ; and in Daniel its origin only
is left out. Do not misunderstand me. The Old
Testament prophecy sees the first coming of Christ
clearly, but it sees it as a point and not as a line.
It sees the second coming of Christ not merely as a
point but also as a line. But the Church of Christ
is exactly in the same position, as regards the world,
as that in which Israel was, as regards the nations.
As the apostle says, " He has redeemed you out of
the world," and as Christ says, "Ye are not of the world,
and my kingdom is not of the world " ; it will come
into the world, but it is not of the world.

And now let me go on to the next point. This
latter point will come up again for our consideration
when I view the Jewish history in its prophetic light.

AND THE BIBLE A BOOK OF FACTS 251

I wish now to speak of the actual reahty of the
Jewish history. This is a very important point. I
wish to say, in the first place, that the Bible professes
to be history. There is no distinction made in the
Bible between certain parts of this history and other
parts — some which are more credible than the others,
some which are more historical — none whatever. The
prophets, our blessed Lord, and the apostles, treat all
the parts of Bible history on a perfect level. The
serpent that tempted Eve is a historical fact. The
Flood and all the things that are narrated in the
earlier portion of the Bible, just as much as in the
later, are historical facts. There is no distinction
made.

Now, I wish to treat this subject with all fairness.
I say it is exceedingly difficuk for a man to accept
the history of the Bible, not because there is not abun-
dant evidence of its truth coming out every day, of
its [historical and geographical accuracy — there the
difficulty does not lie. The difficulty lies in this,
that the things which are spiritual — and, above all,
God Himself — can only be the object of faith ; and
this whole Bible history is a history in which God is
the great agent, and Israel only responding to His
agency, and afterwards the Church only responding
to His agency.

Now, people have said — and it is quite natural —
" The Jews are not the only nation of antiquity.
There are a great many other nations." We notice
in the history of all other nations, that the early
portion of their history is full of wonderful things —
what we must call " myths." A myth is not a lie,
but it is not a historical reality. There is gener-
ally some basis of fact in every myth, some hero.

252 OUR FAITH BASED ON FACTS—

some great wonderful event, which actually existed.
But a myth is not historically true. It is the action
of imagination and of reflection, which, as it were,
spin out a narrative in order to illustrate some truth,
or to represent some idea. Now, we find Grecian
history and Roman history in their early stages,
to be mythology ; but when the Greeks advanced in
knowledge and in their whole intellectual activity,
they rejected their early mythology ; and so we
find that Plato and other thinkers, both among the
Greeks and among the Romans, criticised their early
history with great severity and irony. And for
this there was a twofold reason. In the first place,
the myths themselves were so grotesque and so
evidently fabulous that it was impossible to believe
them, except in an age of childhood, when people do
not seek for truth, but rather for amusement, — as
children like to hear something that is imaginative,
knowing themselves that it is not true, and yet not
analysing whether it is reality or not. It pleases them,
and it also, perhaps, instructs them in some degree.
That was one reason of the criticism. But the other
reason was this. These mythologies are full of im-
morality. The gods and heroes of which these myth-
ologies speak are by no means illustrative of a high
ideal of human character ; and as the conscience was
aroused in these men, and they knew what were truth
and honesty and magnanimity and the different
virtues which men ought to have, they said, "It is
pernicious to exalt such gods and heroes, because
the influence of them is immoral." So in pro-
portion as light advanced, and in proportion as the
conscience was roused by reflection, ancient history
was discarded. That is perfectly true.

AND THE BIBLE A BOOK OF FACTS 253

But now I come to the Scripture history, and
upon this very fact I base an argument. The argu-
ment, in short, is this, — that, because there is a good
deal of base coin circulating, that is no proof that
there is not genuine coin, the superscription of which
is that of God the Lord Himself. As the idols of
the nations were either nothings, or simply heroes or
demons, so the mythology concerning them does not
belong to the realm of fact but of fiction. But as
the God of Israel, which is our postulate, is the true
God, the living God who created the heavens and
the earth, the history which tells of Him does not
belong to the realm of fiction, but belongs to the
realm of truth.

And, secondly, the Greeks and Romans, as they
advanced, discarded their early history, but the
people of Israel as they advanced, and (to speak
with reverence and humanly) as Israel reached its
culmination in Jesus Christ and in the apostles, their
regard for their ancient history did not decrease, but
rather advanced, and the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob is the God of Jesus Christ ; and thus the
apostle Peter preaches, " The God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob hath glorified His child Jesus."
And Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are no mythical
characters. There is nothing about them that is
fictitious. They are not described as being different
from other men. Theirs is a most intensely human
history ; and so the word " patriarch " has remained
up to this day to describe what is genuine, unsophis-
ticated, real humanity. No miracles were performed
by these men. There is nothing in the record, show-
ing that there was' an intention of putting a halo
around them, or of resjardincf them as demigods.

254 OUR FAITH BASED ON FACTS—

But the second argument is this. The tone of
the historical books of Scripture is sober, severe,
unadorned, negligent — as regards the form. The
myths of the ancients, because they were not fact,
required all the embellishment which poetry and
rhetoric could give them in order to make them
attractive. But the history of creation and
paradise, of the patriarchs and Moses, of the
children of Israel in the wilderness, of David,
of Christ, and of the apostles, requires no orna-
mentation. It is quite true that there is nothing so
grand, because there is nothing so pathetic, — there is
nothing so beautiful, as these beautiful histories. But
the authors of these books did not want to make
them beautiful. It is not the result of art. You
know how, in poems and in books of fiction, there is
great art in the grouping of things, in making the
complication of the knot as exciting and interesting
as possible, and in leading up everything to a grand
dramatic solution at the end. We have nothing of
that in Scripture. Sometimes, when the history is,
so to speak, most exciting, there comes a long
interruption, a chapter of names and genealogies,
and a statement of stations and places, as if the man
who wrote it was just noting down the facts, and .
entirely careless of producing any effect of art. This
is the divine negligence of style which is grander
than all human art.

Aeain. In all other histories we find an element
which has to be largely discounted. Niebuhr says
that the Old Testament history is the only exception
to ancient history, in that it is free from what he
calls all " national patriotic falsehood." What that
means is evident. The other nations always wished

AND THE BIBLE A BOOK OF FACTS 255

to magnify themselves. They are never defeated in
battle, or if they are defeated in battle it is owing to
some extraordinary perfidy and some very extraordi-
nary combination of circumstances, and they always
aim at glorifying themselves. You see this tendency
continually breaking out, even unintentionally. But
Israel's history is a history that shows what a wicked,
ungrateful, bad nation they were, and how God
punished them by making other nations come and
subdue them ; and so the defeat of Israel is not
merely narrated faithfully, but a most humiliating
reason is given for that defeat — " Because Israel
forgot the Lord and walked not in the way of His
commandments." That is another very remarkable
element in sacred history. What other nation has
so recorded its iniquity, and the constant chastise-
ment which it drew down from heaven ?

There is another evidence of its veracity, and it is
this. In other histories we see the great tendency
to hero-worship. The historian has some favourite
character. He wants to show 'vhat a grand man
that was. The Bible never wants to show what a
grand man anybody was. There is no hero-worship
in the Bible. I have already referred to that which is
made an objection against the Bible — that Abraham
and Jacob and Moses and David are so full of
faults and sins, and Peter denied Christ thrice, etc.
There is no hero-worship in the Bible. Israel and
the Church have great men ; but what was their great-
ness ? Read the 1 1 th chapter of the epistle to the
Hebrews. Faith was their greatness ; or, in other
words, their greatness was, that they were nothing,
but that they trusted in God. Now, that is another
argument for the actual history.

256 OUR FAITH BASED ON FACTS —

I come to a third argument — very important. I
have already alluded to the genealogies. Of course
when people read these genealogies, or, rather, do
not read them, they think, " Why is so much of the
Bible taken up with a dry list of names ? " Well, it
is dry to us, but it is not dry in itself. These
genealogies are of the greatest importance in
proving the historic character of these books. The
book of Genesis is made up, as it were, of ten
genealogies into which the history is framed. The
book of Exodus begins by a very cool and prosaic
enumeration of the families descended from Jacob.
The book of Chronicles, at its beginning, chapter
after chapter, contains nothing but a list of names.
What an extraordinary thing this is. Now, notice,
if a man writes a fiction which he wants to have
the appearance of truth, like Robinson Crusoe, he
will make use of this in an artistic way, to a certain
extent, to give an air of verisimilitude, as in Homer
we find a catalogue of the ships. But look at
these statements in the Bible, Look at the book
of Numbers — a description, with the names of all
the stations where they halted and the distances. Is
this fiction ? Look where these interruptions and
these genealogies are placed, and you will see that
it is not done by an artist, but by one who states
that which is true. And what wonderful disclosures
in the names ! I will mention only one instance,
the names of Moses' parents — Amram and Jochebed.
The parents of Moses, living in Egypt, lived by faith
in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they
knew the things and the truths recorded in Genesis,
although the book was not in existence. The facts
were in existence. Amram means " the nation that is

AND THE BIBLE A BOOK OF FACTS 257

exalted." Jochebed means " to Jehovah belongs the
glory." Are not all the five books of Moses in these
two names ? Whence came these names ? These
genealogies and statistical statements which we find
throughout the Bible, down to the New Testament,
where Matthew begins with a genealogy, are a very
strong proof of the historic character of the Scrip-
ture.

I wish to mention another point that is very
striking. The Bible history is quite different from
all other history. I not merely admit this, but the
point of my address is to prove that it is different
from all other histories. Yet it always keeps sight
of the other nations. We never, as it were, leave
the coast. We are always reminded that we are on
terra firma. The monuments and inscriptions, that
have been discovered within the last thirty years,
have brought to light the accuracy of the allusions
in Scripture to surrounding nations and to the earlier
world. Professor Dawson has written a very inter-
esting book on the Lands of the Bible, in which he
throws much light upon the position of Paradise.
This has been a subject of research among the
Assyriologists. I quote a sentence from one, who is
a great German authority on Assyriology. He says,
" The 1 4th chapter of Genesis, in which there is
recorded the war of the four kings with the five
kings, has been proved by lately discovered cunei-
form inscriptions to be the grandest relic of ancient
Scripture history." That is a wonderful fact. Take,
again, the history of Egypt. It was once objected
that, because it was mentioned that the king of
Egypt made a present to Abraham, in which were
included asses, camels, and sheep, the narrative could

s

258 OUR FAITH BASED ON FACTS—

not be true, because, at a later period of Egyptian
history, it was found that Egyptians kept no sheep,
and had no camels, and had a great abhorrence of
asses. But the latest discoveries have shown, that in
the more ancient period there were rich men in
Egypt, who possessed thousands of sheep ; while bones
of dromedaries have been found ; so that this state-
ment has proved to be a confirmation instead of
an objection. And — to mention the name of a
writer whose works of fiction may be known to
many of you, and who is a great authority on
Egypt — Ebers declares that the whole narrative of
Joseph, and the picture it gives of the history
and the customs and the spirit of Egypt at that
time, is most faithful and accurate. Then we have
the Egypt of the time of Moses. Then we have
the other nations of which we read in the earlier
Scriptures — the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the
Persians, — all the surrounding nations, — always
kept in view. The whole ancient history is referred
to, although the Scripture only touches upon it,
because in the Scripture view the great and mighty
conquerors were of no vast importance ; and all
those great kingdoms, under which men at that
time trembled, the Scripture knew to be ephemeral.
It says in the 40th chapter of Isaiah that they
will not take root, and that they will not be found
in future on the earth, while Israel should abide.
Thus the incidental light, the Old Testament throws
upon the surrounding history, is confirmed and makes
us perceive that real history is related.

In the New Testament, in the gospel of Luke
and the Acts, because Luke's was eminently an
historical mind, we find the birth of Jesus in

AND THE BIBLE A BOOK OF FACTS 259

Bethlehem, the miracle of miracles ; He was con-
ceived of the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin
Mary ; but it happened on this earth of ours ; in
Judaea, and in Judi^ea at a certain time ; when
Caisar Augustus was the emperor of Rome, there
went forth the edict — that all the world should
be taxed ; and again in the book of Acts there
is constant reference to the Roman history of the
time.

I sum up by saying that the evidence for the
accurate veracity of the history of the Bible is
accumulating day by day, and comes to us from all
sources, and, if I may so speak, from independent
and impartial and, oftentimes, hostile sources. I
believe that it is all actual history. I believe that
the evidence of its veracity is very great, and yet
at the same time I must confess that it is difficult
— that it is impossible — to realise it, unless there
is given to us grace. The Scripture history does
not demand credit merely. The Scripture history
demands faith. We can prove ^o a person that it
is impossible to account for the apostolic Church, if
Jesus did not rise from the dead. Here is an effect,
and there is no cause to produce it ; and then all
these men said publicly in Jerusalem that Jesus was
risen from the dead. Wc can also prove to him
from the different statements of the Gospel narra-
tives that this is a fact and not an imagination,—
the disciples themselves not expecting it, and, after
it had happened, scarcely able to believe it ; and
yet he will not be convinced that Jesus Christ is
risen from the dead. A man may say, " I cannot
disbelieve it," but not disbelieving a thing is dif-
ferent from believing it. He says, " I cannot con-

26o OUR FAITH BASED ON FACTS—

tradict it." He says, " I cannot account for it in
any other way," but still he does not realise it. I
find that when the apostles preached to unbelievers
that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead, they did
not produce a mass of evidence and say, " We will
prove it to you. It was only a few weeks ago that
you saw Him crucified. You know what was done
to the sepulchre, and that there was the stone and
the seal and the Roman guard ; and He has ap-
peared to Peter, and He has appeared to Thomas,
and He has appeared to these women, and He
has appeared to five hundred. We can prove it
to you." Afterwards, when Paul wrote to believers,
to the Christian Church at Corinth, when heresy
had sprung up regarding the resurrection, he says,
" I preached unto you that Christ was risen ac-
cording to the Scriptures, and that He appeared
on such and such different occasions." But the
apostles preached the resurrection of Christ as a
divine fact, as in accordance with the prophecies, as
a link in a great chain which God made, and there-
fore the acquiescence on the part of the audience
was not credence, but faith. Ah, — wonder of all
wonders — that on this earth of ours He by whom
this earth was called into existence lived thirty-three
years, that the sun which was created by Him shone
upon Him, that He ate our bread and drank water
out of the springs of our habitation, that He lived
among men, and that with Plim also there was
yesterday, and to-day, and to-morrow, that He wept
human tears, and that He died upon the cross,
and that His blessed feet shall stand again upon
the Mount of Olives, and that on this earth there
shall be again a miraculous divine history. It

AND THE BIBLE A BOOK OF FACTS 261

needs faith — faith. It is a mystery of godh'ness,
and blessed are we if we believe.

Bible history to us is not a matter of indifference,
nor merely does it satisfy our intelligence, but it is
our very life and consolation !

XIII

OBJECTIONS TO MIRACLE HAVE NO BASIS IN
REASON

Miracles a stumbling-block to reason, only when reason is misapplied
— Reason really declares nothing in regard to them — A revelation
of God, which is spiritual and eternal, rises, as on eagle's wings,
far above the ken of reason — True philosophers acknowledge
the limits of reason — Science owes all its advance to the silent
recognition of intelligence, as arranging all, not to that idea of
dull lifeless uniformity suggested by pantheism and materialism,
which alone declare miracles to be impossible — Miracle entirely
apart from nature — This shown in detail — Whence the beginning
of things — Absolute necessity of direct Divine guidance to account
for the beginning — The prophecies, — many of them indisputable,
— continuous miracles — Special difficulties raised as to Jonah,
Balaam, etc. — Continuous miracles in conversion, answers to
prayer, etc. — God present in all His works, creating, controlling,
guiding all.

The subject of this morning's lecture is the super-
natural and the miraculous character of Bible history.
Abundant and various as are the evidences, and the
corroborative testimonies attesting the truthfulness
and accuracy of Bible history, yet, as I stated at the
conclusion of my last lecture, this Bible history
requires not merely credence on the part of man,
but also faith. And this seems at first sight a
contradiction, because if there is sufficient evidence
to attest the truthfulness of a history, then the
human intellect, unaided, ought to be able to receive

OBJECTIONS TO MIRACLE BASELESS 263

this history. But the reason, why the human
intellect is not able to realise this history, is not
because there is any lack of evidence to attest its
veracity, but because it is a history of a super- |
natural and miraculous character. It is the revela-
tion of God, and of a kingdom which is spiritual
and eternal ; it is the manifestation and develop-
ment in time, of the counsels of redemption, which
God had in Himself, before the foundations of
the world were laid ; and it is because God, and
the things that refer to the eternal and spiritual
kingdom, are inwoven into this history, that without
the light and power of the Holy Ghost man is unable
to realise it. And therefore this history is an object
of faith, and faith is the gift of God.

As God who is unseen reveals Himself in this
history, and the plan which He has purposed in
Himself develops in this history, we are brought
altogether out of the region and realm of that which
is seen, and that which can be apprehended by
human reason, or taken cognisance of by the limited
powers of human intellect. It is here that the op-
position of science has always come into collision
with that which has been the object of the faith of
Christ's Church. But, as I endeavoured to show in
my last lecture, that not merely does history not
come into collisi'on with the records of the Bible, but
that the Bible alone contains the facts and the prin-
ciples upon which a philosophical and universal his-
tory can be based, so I may also assert that there is
no collision whatever between science, if science keeps
to its own limits, and that revelation of God and a
supernatural kingdom which is given to us in the
Scripture. They who do not believe in a personal

264 OBJECTIONS TO MIRACLE HAVE

God, but are atheists or pantheists, cannot logically
accept the possibility of miracles ; but all who believe
that there is a living God, full of wisdom and of
power and of love, can find no difficulty in accept-
ing a testimony which shows us that God reveals
Himself, and that God acts, here upon earth, and
within the history of mankind. Therefore all that
the Scripture tells us of God and of the unseen
world, instead of interfering with the discoveries of
science, only lays the basis and firm foundation for
the activity of science. To quote a man who speaks
of this subject with authority, Professor Dawson,
" Any rational or successful pursuit of science im-
plies the feeling of a community between the Author
and Contriver and Ruler of nature, and the mind
which can understand it. To science nature must
be a cosmos, not a fortuitous chaos, and everything
in the history and arrangements of the universe must
be a manifestation not only of order but of design.
The true man of science must believe in a divine
creative will, in a God who manifests Himself and
is therefore not the hypothetical God of the agnostic ;
in a God who must be distinct from and above ma-
terial things, and therefore not the shadowy God of
the pantheist who is everywhere and yet nowhere ;
in' a God who causes the unity and uniformity of
nature, and therefore not one of the many gods of
polytheism ; in a God who acts on His rational crea-
tures daily in a thousand ways by His fatherly regard
for their welfare, and who reveals Himself to them ;
a God, in short, who made the world and all things
therein, and who made man in His own image and
likeness." And with this corresponds the fact, that
science has only prospered in Christendom, and that

NO BASIS IN REASON 265

the nations who are polytheists, or who are pan-
theists, are not able to cultivate science for the
simple reason, that they do not believe in God who
is the creator and upholder of all things, — and there-
fore the phenomena, of which they take cognisance,
have not to them any coherence and unity, —
attributing as they do the different things which they
see, to the powers of nature, or to personifications of
these powers. But we who believe in a living God,
although we see nature and trace the laws of nature,
yet do not conceive of these laws of nature as if
they put any limits to the power of God or to the
liberty of God. He who has made the laws, for
laws pre-suppose a law-giver, uses them as His ser-
vants and as His medium, but He asserts within
them, and above them, His own power and His own
wisdom. Therefore it is the same thing whether the
heathen nations deify the various powers of nature
separately, and worship the sun or the moon, or the
god of the ocean, or the god of trees, or whether
scientific men worship nature as a whole and as an
organism. This idolatry of nature and of the laws
of nature, is the very thing against which the miracles
which are recorded in Scripture history do testify,
declaring to us that Jehovah is the God, who hath
made the heavens and the earth, and who rulcth
over all. If there is a kingdom which is visible, and
which has its inexorable laws, there is likewise a king-
dom which at present is unseen, the laws of which
are still more inexorable and more binding. There
is a kingdom, of which science can take no cognis-
ance. There is God ; there are angels ; there is the
kingdom of evil, with Satan at its head ; there is
the inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled.

266 OBJECTIONS TO MIRACLE HAVE

and that fadeth not away, — even heaven ; there is the
abyss which is prepared for Satan and his angels.
Now, of all this unseen kingdom which is ruled over
by God the Lord we know nothing, except by the
revelation of the Most High, both in His word and in
our hearts, through the Holy Spirit. The laws of the
spiritual kingdom are, if comparison be possible, far
more stringent, and far more unchangeable, than the
laws of this outer world which we can trace. But
more than that. Before God ever thought and car-
ried into execution the creation of heaven and earth,
as we see them now, there was, in the depths of the
Divine Mind, the idea of the new heavens and the
new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, of a new
creation in Christ Jesus in which there would be no
sin and no sorrow, of a new race born again of the
Spirit — to whom it would be impossible ever to fall
away from communion with God. And it was only
because of this purpose, which He purposed in Him-
self, before the foundations of the world were laid,
that the heavens and the earth which we behold were
created, and that the whole history took place, which
is recorded in Scripture, and which culminates in Christ,
and which shall end in the manifestation of His glory.
Therefore this is the God who, out of this unseen
realm, in order to carry out the purposes of His
love, manifests Himself in that history which is re-
corded in Scripture ; and this is the law which, out of
the unseen world, is made manifest in the visible
world — " With man it is impossible, but with God
all things are possible." Salvation is of Jehovah
and of Jehovah exclusively. Only by the interven-
tion of divine power and wisdom, actuated by love,
can man be redeemed, this world transformed, and

NO BASIS IN REASON 267

the kingdom of the Most High set up upon earth.
Hence the eternal necessity, founded in the very
essence of things, of the supernatural and miraculous,
in the history of redemption. When we come in
this light to the consideration of the Old Testament
history, which can never for a moment be separated
from Christ, — for without Christ it could never have
taken place, without Christ it could never have been
carried out, without Christ it could have had no end
and no purpose — I say, when we come to the con-
sideration of the miracles recorded in the sacred
history in this light, then what we cannot comprehend
appears full of wisdom and consistency.

And before I enter on the enumeration of the
special points, let me remind you of a few facts in
connection with the miracles, ~ It has been said that
miracle is beyond nature, and that miracle is above
nature, and that miracle is against nature. It would
be better to say that miracle is entirely apart from
nature. In miracle, for great reasons and purposes,
God acts here upon earth, apa.t from the laws of
nature. The thing that is important 'in a miracle is
not that something extraordinary has happened for
which we can give no account as to its origination, —
but the important thing in a miracle is that God
acts. It is nothing to say that something remark-
able has happened, and that we are not able to
account for the phenomenon. The essence of a
miracle is this — that God interferes, that God acts,
to reveal Himself and to carry out His purposes.
Therefore every miracle is regarded in the Bible, as
full of teaching and instruction. It is the revela-
tion, the manifestation, the exposition of God's
character and purpose. Those miracles that occur

268 OBJECTIONS TO MIRACLE HAVE

in the Bible are not isolated and unconnected with
one another, but are all links in a chain, and by
, these links the history of God's kingdom upon earth
\ is carried on, for without them it could not have
., been carried on. They appear at the important
^ junctures and times of crisis when, to speak with
; reverence, it is necessary, according to the divine
wisdom, that God should interfere. And further,
it is a mistake to say that in these miracles the
laws of nature are suspended. The laws of nature
are by no means suspended. When Jesus changed
the water into wine at the marriage at Cana, all
water was not changed into wine. All the water
that was in Cana was not changed into wine. Only
this water upon which the will of Christ acted was
so changed. If, when the axe of iron was cast
into the water, somebody else had cast an axe
\ of iron into the water, it would have sunk. The
laws of specific gravity were not suspended, but in
this particular instance there was an action of the
divine omnipotence, for His gracious purposes. And
nothing illustrates this principle more than that most
remarkable instance of the divine power — God raising
the dead. When our blessed Saviour raised the little
maid he said, " Give her something to eat." The
laws of nature were not suspended. He raised the
little child, and, immediately after He had raised the
little child, there was not the slightest disturbance
upon the face of the waters of nature ; she had
immediately to go back again to the general course.
And when He raised the young man, the son of the
widow of Nain, He gave him back to his mother ;
and when He raised Lazarus, who had been four
days in the grave. He said, " Loose him, and let him

NO BASIS IN REASON. 269

go." Nor do miracles, or prophecy, interfere with
the action of human liberty and of human respon-
sibility. Miracles never forced people to believe in
Jesus, or to believe in Jehovah. The decision of
the will was left untouched by the miracle. We
see from the 9th chapter of John that although
the most persistent, minute cross-examination of
the man that was blind took place, the Pharisees
resisted the most circumstantial evidence, that could
have been brought before a judge. And the raising
of Lazarus from the grave only accelerated the
decision of the enemies of Christ, that He must
be put to death. Where is there in the miracles
that are recorded in Scripture, anything that inter-
feres with science properly so-called, or that inter-
feres with all the ideas and instincts of reason and
of feeling ?

Look then at the chain of supernatural and
miraculous events. I call events supernatural, when
God speaks, when God appears, when God Himself
acts. I call them miraculous whon God, through the
agency of His chosen servants who have faith, breaks
as it were through the phenomena that we behold, and
manifests His own presence and His own purpose.
Supernatural in the strictest sense of the word is the
history of the creation of the world, which reason
could never have elaborated, and of which human
testimony could not possibly have given witness —
that God created the heavens and the earth, and
that God created man in His image, that God
formed Eve out of Adam because the whole human
race was to consist in one, and not in two beginnings.
Supernatural is the record of the fall of man — that
the idea of evil emanated not out of the depths

270 OBJECTIONS TO MIRACLE HAVE

of his own being, but that, from a realm beyond
our ken, the Prince of Darkness suggested to him
disobedience to God. Supernatural is the record
that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was taken
up into heaven, in order to convince a secularised
race, which sought its safety and its happiness in
the present, that there was another world and
another life. Supernatural was the judgment of
the Flood upon the human race, and the deliverance
of Noah and his household. Supernatural was the
origin of nations and the origin of the diversity of
languages, because God in His own mind saw already
that, in Christ Jesus and by the power of the Holy
Ghost, He would unite all the families of the earth
into perfect harmony and concord, through the One
that He had chosen. With all these supernatural
manifestations and acts, which are recorded in the
first part of the book of Genesis, there is associ-
ated the teaching which God designs. God teaches
— that is, His light descends unto man. God
works marvellous things — that is. His power is
made manifest to man. There was a tendency
to emigrate, at the time when Abraham lived in
Ur of the Chaldees, but to no natural impulse was
the emigration of Abraham to be attributed ; for
the beginning of the race which God had chosen
must be altogether in the hands of God. It was a
supernatural and divine call, when the God of glory
appeared unto Abraham, that made him go into the
land which God showed him. Supernatural was the
origin of the Jewish race in the birth of Isaac, so
much so that the apostle Paul teaches us, that the
faith which Abraham exercised in believing the
divine promise, was nothing short of believing that

NO BASIS IN REASON 271

God was able to raise the dead, and to call into
existence that which is not. When now in the
providence of God the children of Jacob had got
into Egypt, and were there brought into conflict,
400 years afterwards, with the most civilised nation
of the world, it was not, because the Jewish nation
had attained to a maturity of independence and of
courage, that they conceived the idea of emancipa-
ting themselves from the yoke, — for when first the
idea was presented to them they rebelled against
it ; nor was it because Moses, actuated by a heroic
patriotism, resolved to be the rescuer of his nation,
for long after the painful experience that he had
had, — which taught him that that which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that the unhallowed and un-
bridled enthusiasm and energy of human nature are
not able to do anything in the kingdom of God, —
God appeared to him in the burning bush, and had
to persuade and command the unwilling Moses to go
to Pharaoh. By miracles and signs, He persuaded
Moses that the God of his fathers was also with him.
By miracles and mighty wonders did God deliver
Israel out of Egypt, when He made manifest to
Pharaoh and to all the Egyptians, that the powers
of nature which they worshipped were altogether
under the subjection of the Most High. And on
that memorable night when the first born in Egypt,
and only the first born — when not viany of the first
born, but all of the first born of Egypt — died, God
brought Israel out of Egypt with His mighty hand
and outstretched arm, and by the blood of the paschal
lamb redeemed them, to show them that it was not
merely His power nor His faithfulness, but also His
mercy (which was to be exhibited in the atonement),

272 OBJECTIONS TO MIRACLE HAVE

that made them, who were as guilty as the Egyptians,
to be His witnesses and His people. By miracle they
passed through the Red Sea ; — for all that the
rationalists have suggested about the natural tide and
flow cannot account for the passage of two millions of
human beings just at that time, — and for the destruc-
tion afterwards of their enemies. By miracle, and
through the faith of Moses, they passed through the
Red Sea, in order that they might witness that stu-
pendous and magnificent manifestation of Jehovah,
when, with His mighty angels, He promulgated the
fiery and blessed and everlasting law of Mount Sinai.
Not in any other way, could it have been done ; not
in any other way, could it have been impressed upon
Israel and on other nations, that Israel was the nation
of God, chosen by Him in His sovereignty, formed by
Him for Himself, and that all that was to come out of
Israel (" Salvation is of the Jews ") was not because
in Israel there was any worthiness or any material,
out of which there could come a deliverance and a
redemption, but because God Himself in Israel, and
among Israel, and through Israel, was about to carry
out His gracious promises. For forty years in the
wilderness, there was a supernatural and miraculous
history. The angel of His presence went with them.
The manifestation of glory was vouchsafed to them.
Manna came down from heaven and fed them. Out
of the rock came water and they drank. Against
their enemies they were protected by the might of
God. By looking at the brazen serpent they were
healed, in order that they might learn the doctrine
of sin and of salvation. God did mighty works and
revealed Himself in a marvellous way to the children
of Israel in the wilderness. Here comes an episode

NO BASIS IN REASON 273

frequently used by the opponents of revelation, who
see only the surface, and who are very easily satisfied
with the most feeble satire, upon what appears to
them to be grotesque. When the Israelites first
come into contact with their enemies, the Amorites
and the Moabites, just before they are going to take
possession of the land promised to their fathers,
there is a wonderful witness raised up for Jehovah,
not from among the Israelites but from among the
heathen nations, — Balaam, who was a seer and
knew that Jehovah was God. Whether he had
retained some of the primaeval knowledge, handed
down among the heathen, or whether the report of
the mighty acts of God in Egypt and in the wilderness
had reached him as it had reached many others, —
he was a seer, one who used divination, a soothsayer,
many of whom were to be found among the heathen.
These were, as Scripture teaches us, not merely
deceivers, but they possessed a real knowledge and
a real power, in connection with demons. Balaam
wished to combine his heathen magic, with the know-
ledge of Jehovah. Deeply rooted in his heart was
the love of money, — covetousness, which is idolatry.
He was a double-hearted and a double-minded man,
yet full of light and knowledge — a great psychological
miracle, and, several times, held up for our instruction
and warning, in the books of the New Testament.
When God permits him to go up to Balak, but on
the condition that he should speak only what God
commanded him, — God, seeing the perversity of his
heart, wished to rebuke him and to hinder him, and
then there came the angel with the drawn sword.
But he that was a seer became blind and saw not,
and he that was as a prophet, above the level of

T

274 OBJECTIONS TO MIRACLE HAVE

humanity, sank below the level of humanity, so that,
as the apostle Peter teaches us, the dumb animal
rebuked his madness. God rebuked his perversity by
making this irrational animal speak to him. The ass
saw the angel of the Lord and was frightened. The
ass also perceived the injustice of his master and
resented it, — and in both these acts the animal did
not transcend the limits of what we see all animals
around us continually do. That the ass expressed
both its fright, and its indignation at being wrong-
fully treated, is according to natural phenomena.
The miracle begins here — that with the human voice
he rebuked the perversity of Balaam. And that all
this happened not in an ecstasy or a dream is evident
from this fact — that not until after this rebuke did
Balaam behold the angel of the Lord. But this
miracle, striking as it is, is only one of the incidental
and accidental features of this wonderful narrative.
The importance of Balaam and his predictions lies
in quite a different territory. Balaam himself, in
wonderful words, shows to us the great distinction
that there is between prophecy, and the enchantment
and divination, common among the heathen nations
— as the consulting the flight of birds, or the fore-
showing and foretelling of future events from the
configuration of the intestines of sacrifices, and so on.
In Israel it was the living God who, by His word,
was to direct their history. Many of the sayings
of Balaam have become household words among the
faithful — his declaration that God was not man that
He should lie, or the son of man that He should not
be faithful to His promise ; or his prediction of the
king that was to arise in Israel and give to it the
victory, — the star that was to come out of Jacob and

NO BASIS IN REASON 275

the sceptre that was to come out of Judah. Won-
derful were the predictions of Balaam, and this was
their significance — that here God raised up a witness,
out of heathenism, to show to Israel that — weak and
powerless as they were in themselves, and about to
enter upon a task which appeared and must appear
to man impossible, that of conquering the nations —
they were strong in the Lord. Here is a heathen
seer, who beholds heathen power after heathen power
rise up, while all of them are destroyed and dis-
appear, and Israel alone remains. There is no pro-
phecy, until we come to the prophecy of Daniel,
which passes forth to the utmost distance, like the
prophecy of Balaam, for, as a heathen, he was more
concerned with the relation of Israel to the world,
than with Israel to itself. ~So in this prophecy of
Balaam we find — what is afterwards more fully re-
vealed by Daniel — that from the west, the Isles of
Chittim in the Mediterranean Sea, that is Greece,
there should come the victory of Israel over Asshur
that was to rise up against her. As Balaam says,
Israel is a nation apart, separated by God for a
great purpose.

When Israel was now before the land of Canaan
and Moses had been taken away, miracles continued
to be wrought, and for good reason. Only think of
Joshua's position. For forty years he had come into
contact with Israel, and become acquainted with their
unfaithfulness and their want of courage. The task
that was before him was one of stupendous magnitude,
for Canaan vvas full of fortified cities, and was inhabited
by warlike nations, and he was to succeed Moses,
that unique man in antiquity, — the man of God. No
wonder that God said to him, " Only be not afraid,

276 OBJECTIONS TO MIRACLE HAVE

and be of courage ; as I was with Moses, so I will
be with thee." And therefore as miracles were
wrought by Moses, miracles were wrought by Joshua.
Again by miracle, they crossed the Jordan, as they
had crossed the Red Sea. By miracle the walls
of Jericho fell down. By miracle the sun and the
moon had to serve the purposes of God, — the sun
being deified by these nations as Baal, and the
moon as Ashtaroth. The angel of the covenant
appeared to Joshua, even as God appeared to
Moses in the fiery bush. The Prince of the Hosts
of the Lord spoke to Joshua and assured him that
he would be with them. Thus it was necessary,
in order that Israel should take possession of the
land, for miracles to be performed.

When we come to David who is the type of Christ,
the man after the heart of God, and whose reign was
not to be like the reign of an earthly monarch, then
again we find that the election and appointment of
David to be king was brought about supernatur-
ally. He was not chosen by Israel, for Israel had
regard to that which is outward, and the man who
appeared a hero and valiant in battle was the man
that attracted their attention ; but David the son
of Jesse that kept the flock of his father was pointed
out by God Himself, to the prophet Samuel. And
again God appeared to David and showed to him
the sure mercies of David, and that future One
in whom God would lay the foundation of the
kingdom. Then there was no miracle for a long
period until the days of Elijah and EHsha, when
the whole nation had fallen into idolatry, when the
king was a worshipper of Baal, and hundreds and
hundreds of priests were priests of Baal. Then God,

NO BAS/S AV REASON 277

to arrest that downward progress, and to prepare and
retain the land for the future kingdom, sent Elijah.
Sudden was his appearance, mysterious was his
ascension. Like fire his word burned, and lit up the
darkness of that idolatrous race. He by prayer
shut the doors of heaven, so that it rained not
for three years and a half, and he opened again the
clouds of heaven, and the rain descended. Fire
came down from heaven upon the altar and it
was made manifest to the nation that "Jehovah,
He is the God " ; and although, as was necessary
for the exigencies of the time, the miracles of Elijah
were chiefly of this terrible and solemn character,
yet the mercy of the Lord was also made manifest
by Elijah, even as God spoke to him in the still
small voice. And the "trust of Elijah in the mercy
of God, who was able to feed the hungry and to
bring to life again those that were dead, we are
shown in his miracles. And as Elijah, so Elisha.
As Joshua succeeded Moses, so Elisha succeeded
Elijah, and in him the healing, saving, redeeming
power of Jehovah was made more manifest. These
were the two witnesses that God chose. They did
not prophesy in word. They did not look forward
so much to the Messiah as did the other prophets.
Their miracles were their sermons. God, by mighty
signs and wonders, roused this idolatrous nation to
seek Him and return to His favour.

I refer now, further, to two miracles which it is
necessary for me to mention — one, because it is often
made the object of ridicule, while the importance of
it is not seen. For a thousand people who will say
" Do you believe that Balaam's ass spoke ? " there
is scarcely one who has read the history of Balaam —

278 OBJECTIONS TO MIRACLE HAVE

SO wonderful, so instructive, so sublime, and with such
strong evidence, — in its prophetic character, and
world-wide predictions, — of the revelation which this
man had from God. Likewise is this the case with
the miracle of Jonah. What a wonderful book is
that little book of Jonah with its four chapters ! even
in Scripture history it is conspicuous for its vivid
and graphic character. As Dr. Pusey says, " There
is not a single line in this book which does not
advance the history. Here there is no reflection :
here everything is fact and picture." What a large
idea is in this book of Jonah. God is not the
God of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. God
sends him to Nineveh. There are two miracles
recorded in the book. One belongs to outward
nature and the other belongs to the inward king-
dom. How great was the miracle of the conversion
of the Ninevites — that this great city which con-
tained millions of inhabitants, from the king upon
his throne down to the lowest of the people, repented,
simply by hearing the message of a strange prophet
who was landed on their shore. So deep was their
repentance, that they caused even the " beasts to be
covered with sackcloth." Who but the mighty
Spirit of God could have wrought this.

But as to the other miracle, that God prepared a
monster of the sea to swallow Jonah, and preserve the
life of Jonah for three days, and afterwards bring him
forth on to the dry land, — " improbable," " impossible,"
as it appears, — there are many instances corroborative
of this miracle, to be found in secular history, of great
monsters of the sea which are only able to swallow
their prey entire, or to break it in pieces. But when
we come to remember what God purposed by this

NO BASIS IN REASON 279

history, when we see first the sublime idea of this
history — the pity of God upon the Gentiles, — and
how God afterwards would, through Israel and through
Him who was typified by Jonah, command men
everywhere to repent and to turn to His love — when
we remember how our blessed Saviour repeatedly
alluded to this book of Jonah in both its aspects, first,
as typifying Himself, — His being buried in the earth
and afterwards raised again from the grave, — and,
secondly, as referring also to the repentance of the
Ninevites who would stand up in judgment against
those who did not obey the voice of Him who was
greater than Jonah — then we see the magnificence
of this book, and we see also that this miracle is not
a grotesque prodigy of human imagination, but the
manifestation of Him who is perfect wisdom and
perfect love.

And so also of the miracles that are recorded in
the book of Daniel. The great besetting sin of
Nebuchadnezzar, and afterwards of Darius and all of
these mighty men, was pride, as if they by their own
wisdom had built up these great and mighty empires.
And how easy it was for them to suppose that the
God of Israel was a weak God, for if, as Sennacherib
afterwards said. He were a strong God, how could
He have allowed His nation to be subjugated by
other nations ? Therefore God showed to Nebu-
chadnezzar and to Darius that He was the God and
the only God, and that although He allowed Israel,
on account of Israel's sin, to be chastised by them,
and to be taken into captivity by them, yet His
power was an infinite power, neither was His love to
Israel a love which could ever change or falter. And
the efiect of these miracles we can see in that

2So OBJECTIONS TO MIRACLE HAVE

wonderful edict of Cyrus. Cyrus says that he has
written this edict in obedience to the God of the
Jews,— to Jehovah. But I want now to show how
all these miracles were preparatory, and how they
were intimately connected with our blessed Saviour
Jesus Christ.

All that is supernatural in the Old Testament,
all that is miraculous in the Old Testament, has its
explanation, has its root and its purpose, in Christ
Jesus. You who are Christians understand that on
different occasions God spoke to Abraham, God
spoke to Moses, and appeared to Abraham and ap-
peared to Moses. The glory of the Lord was seen,
between the Cherubim, in the Holy of Holies. That
was supernatural, but all this happened only because
in the fulness of time God appeared. He was
made manifest in flesh. We beheld His glory, the
glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father. The
Shekinah tabernacled in Him who tabernacled
and dwelt among us. And if God spoke. His ulti-
mate and His perfect message to mankind was
given by Jesus, and Jesus Himself is the Word, in
which all the thoughts and purposes of God are
expressed.

Look we to miracles. God acts ; God heals
the sick ; God forgives sin ; God subdues the
powers of nature. God is stronger than Satan
and will vanquish him. God is able to raise the
dead. Jesus says, " Thy sins are forgiven." Jesus
cleanses the leper ; Jesus restores to the blind their
sight ; Jesus rebukes the storm ; Jesus conquers
devils ; Jesus raises the dead. And if God in the
Old Testament performed the miracles by the agency
of men who had faith — by faith Moses did this and

NO BASJS IN REASON 281

this — SO did Jesus also by faith do miracles, by
the finger of God, trusting in God, doing the things
which His Father showed Him, and doing the works
because the Father was in Him, and He in the
Father. Wonderful double relation of Jesus ! He
does the miracle by His own power — " My Father
worketh hitherto and I work." He raises the dead,
because He is the Resurrection and the Life, and,
at the same time. He thanks God at the grave of
Lazarus, because the Father always hears Him.
What a meeting of the two lines is there here.
Theophany: God appears; God's glory is manifested;
God does miracles. Jesus appears ; Jesus' glory is
manifested ; Jesus works miracles — that is one line :
and the other line that the faithful Israelite, the servant
of the Lord, trusting in God, doeth marvels. Jesus
who is both the Son and the servant, believing in the
Father and communing with the Father, showing great
signs, as in the raising of Lazarus — " The sickness was
not unto death, but that the Son of God should be
glorified " because He is God — namely, that Jehovah,
who says, " My glory will I not give to another."
He has given it from all eternity to His Son who is
one uuth Him. And afterwards Jesus says, " Did I
not tell thee that if thou wouldst believe thou shouldst
see the glory of God," for greater contrast there could
not be than between a body mouldering in the grave
when corruption has already made itself manifest,
and the glory of Him who is the Creator of heaven
and earth, and who shall raise the dead and introduce
His everlasting kingdom. So in Christ Jesus all
the supernatural and all the miraculous finds its
confirmation. But more than that, it is very difficult
for people to believe that miracles happened in the

282 OBJECTIONS TO MIRACLE HAVE

past, if they do not believe that miracles will happen
again in the future. The history of the world ac-
cording to them is most unsymmetrical. There is
no architectural order in it. There first comes a
period in which there are miracles — the appearing
of God Himself, and the action of God Himself — and
then there comes a long period in which there are no
miracles, — and that period is to be ended suddenly,
abruptly, and without any transition, by the eternal
condition, at the last Judgment. Not such is the view
of Scripture. When Jesus Christ rose from the dead
we were born again unto a lively hope and unto an
inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled and
that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for those
who are waiting for the things that shall be revealed
to them, at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the beginning.
It is the future. Looking back (becau-se time does not
come in here) : — What Jesus is. He is to all believers,
whether they lived before the advent or after the ad-
vent, and in Him is contained the actual beginning
of that new period in the world's history, when God
is made manifest. So the prophet Micah says that
the same kind of miracles shall happen again, as
hajapened when God brought Israel out of Egypt ;
and the prophet Jeremiah says that when God shall
bring again Israel, whom He has scattered, all the
ends of the earth and the far-off islands shall take
notice of it, and shall say, " What wonderful things
God has done." If then we believe this — that the
present period is only a pause, only an interval, even
as there were 400 years between Joseph and the
call of Moses, and as there were 400 years
between the prophet Malachi and the appearing

NO BASIS IN REASON 283

of the angel to the father of John the Baptist —
if we beheve that, in these pauses, God is still the
same God, and that just as a great musician puts
the thought of melody, not merely in the notes
which we hear, but also in the pauses — the rhythm of
the silence of these being part and parcel of the great
idea — so shall He come again, and there shall
begin again the mighty manifestations and acts of
God. And in the intermediate time is there not
miracle ? Have there not been miracles since Jesus
went up to heaven, and since the last of the miracles
performed by the apostles ? Is not every one that
is convinced of sin and brought to love Jesus a
miracle ? Is it not the Holy Ghost Himself who
has quickened him ? Is it not the power put forth
by Jesus Himself? I when " I am lifted up" am a
prince and a Saviour to give repentance and the
remission of sins. Is not God's answering prayer
a miracle ? When God gives to a man, who by
nature is impatient and proud, meekness and patience,
is not that a miracle ? When God enlightens our
hearts, when God subdues our sins under us, is not
this a miracle ? There is a continuous current of
miracle in the present dispensation. To the out-
ward world it is not striking — " The world seeth me
no more, but ye shall see me, and your hearts shall
rejoice and your joy no man can take from you."
Thus then we believe in God in the past, God in the
present, God who will come again.

And in conclusion, children of God, do not imagine
that what the Bible tells us of miracle is to make us
less thoughtful, or to make us less appreciative of
that wonderful first creation in which He has placed
us. It is not to make us think nature of no

284 OBJECTIONS TO MIRACLE HAVE

importance, because miracles are more striking, but,
on the contrary, it is to rouse our dormant sense,
that we may adore God in all the wonderful works
which He has made, in the sun which rules by day
and in the moon and stars which shine by night, in
the beautiful and striking way in which He renews,
every year, the face of nature, — in the lilies which
grow, because God clothes them. Oh how beautiful
in the Psalms, when the psalmist speaks of God who
created the heavens and the earth, and who created
the sun, the moon and the stars, and afterwards goes
on to say, " Who delivered our fathers out of Egypt
and led them through the Red Sea." It appears
there as if he thought everything miraculous, and
as if the Jews had no idea of nature apart from
miracle. Oh, far from that. But this is what the
psalmist wishes to show to us. It is because of these
mighty miracles, that now we have an eye open and
a heart open to adore God in all the wonderful
works of the first creation. And how beautifully He
attributes everything, not to the power of God, or to
the wisdom of God, or to the sovereignty of God.
Why did God create sun, moon, and stars ? Why
does He watch over nature, year by year, and bring
forth the seasons in their order? Because His
mercy endureth for ever; — that salvation -mercy
which brought Israel out of Egypt, and which after-
wards sent to us His own blessed Son. It is because
of His mercy, that all things are around us to praise
Him and to magnify His holy name. And is the
miraculous character of Bible history to put, as it
were, providence into the background, so that we
may not notice it or admire it ? Oh that be far from
us. It is just because we believe in the living God

NO BASIS IN REASON 285

who hath done great miracles and will do them again,
that we are sure that not even a sparrow can fall to
the ground without His will, that the very hairs of
our head are numbered, that He knows our daily
steps, and that He takes cognisance of our daily
difficulties and duties. Believe then in God. That
is the sum of all things. As Jesus said to the
disciples, " Have faith in God."

XIV

THE DOCTRINAL, TYPICAL, AND PROPHETICAL
ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL

The doctrinal, typical, and prophetical aspects of the history of Israel —
These all combined, and to be viewed in combination — Doctrine
viewed alone becomes metaphysical, losing vitality ; the history
alone becomes lifeless ; types alone become fanciful — -Scripture
history throughout written in the prophetic spirit — Prophecy re-
lates not only to the future, but to the revealing of God's mind —
The whole object of the Scripture to reveal God, and to show
how man may come into communion with God — The personal
revelations of God in the Old Testament pointed to incarnation —
God to be present with them — Yet the Deliverer to be a man, the
seed of the woman and Son of David, etc. — Resume of the books
showing their relations — First three chapters of Genesis — Election
of Abraham — Jews and Gentiles in the future perfected Church.

The .subject upon which I enter this morning is the
doctrinal, typical, and prophetical aspects of the hi.story
of Israel. My remarks will have as their centre
the person of Abraham ; and I hope in my next
lecture to continue the subject, taking as the start-
ing-point Moses, and to conclude the subject this
day fortnight, if it please God, taking for the starting-
point David.

The combination of history, teaching, prophecy
and type which we find in Scripture is so perfect and
excellent, that it is extremely difficult to give a correct
view of each of these component parts separately. If

ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL 2S7

we look at the doctrine apart from the history, the
tendency is to represent the doctrine in an abstruse
and metaphysical method, lacking all the vitality,
fragrance, and affectionateness which we find inter-
twined in the Scripture statements, with the dealings
of God, and the development of the history of redemp-
tion. If the history which is recorded in Scripture is
viewed apart from the prophecies, which are still to be
fulfilled in the future, the danger is that the history
may be regarded merely in its abstract and doctrinal
point of view, and that great violence may be done
to it, by an interpretation which chooses to call itself
spiritual, but which after all is carnal, because it does
not submit itself to the wisdom of God. Rather
should it be called phantomising, in not fully seeing
that the history was an actual and concrete reality,
even as the Son of God, who came down from heaven,
really and truly was made flesh. For that reason
the continuous and diligent study of Scripture is ab-
solutely necessary, and nothing can take the place of
Scripture — not the most perfect and skilfully framed
creeds, not the most thoughtful and earnest preaching.
As we find that God has provided all over the earth
certain springs which possess healing power, —
chemistry is able to analyse them, chemistry is also
able to produce artificially a compound containing
the same elements, but nothing that human skill can
prepare is exactly the same as that which Nature
herself produces — so is it with that teaching which
God has given to us in His own Word. Botany
may describe very accurately a plant, but it is quite
a different thing, which even the ignorant can
enjoy, to see the plant, and to be impressed directly
with its organic unity, with its beauty or with its

288 THE DOCTRINAL, TYPICAL, AND rTOPIIETICAL

fragrance. Every one who sees a splendid build
ing is immediately impressed with the harmony,
and the majesty, and the beauty of the building,
but very few people would be able to understand the
architect's plan of that building, as it is sketched
upon paper. Therefore God, who in great wisdom and
love has framed the history of His people, and has
also caused the Scripture to be written by inspiration
of the Holy Ghost, has provided for the poor and
lowly, and has bound us to the continual and diligent
study of the Scriptures, for only in this way can
His great purpose be fulfilled in us, that, through
the Scriptures, we may be brought into harmony
and communion with Himself, and be made heirs
of salvation.

The Scripture history is throughout written in
the prophetic spirit, for the great object in that history
is to show to us God's will concerning us, His purposes
concerning the human race, what man is to think
concerning God, and what life it is that God requires
of man. But the acts of God are so sublime, and
so full of manifold wisdom, that it would have been
impossible for Israel and for us to understand them,
unless they had always been accompanied by the
Word.

It is quite true, as the proverb says, that facts
speak, and so do those facts which are recorded in
Scripture, but still it is necessary that they should
be accompanied by the teaching given by God
Himself, — and this teaching we may call prophetic,
not merely because it relates to the future, but
because it reveals God and His mind. Therefore
God says through the prophet Amos that there is
nothing that the Lord God ever does without

ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL 2S9

revealing His secret, that is to say, His plan and
His idea to His servants the prophets. And thus
it is said by David that God made known His
ways to Moses and His acts to the children of
Israel ; that is, so to speak, the meaning and the
philosophy were made known to the prophet, the
outward fulfilment and embodiment were seen by all
the people. And here it is very remarkable that
the mysterious man of whom I spoke in my last
lecture, — Balaam, — to whom in the New Testament
there corresponds Simon Magus, saw the dilTerence
that there was between heathen prophecy, and
prophecy among the people of God, for he declares,
that among God's people there is no divination and
soothsaying, as among the heathen. Out of a great
desire to know the future, whether a god would
prosper or not some war expedition, they consulted
oracles. There were men and women who had
some natural gift of seeing into the future, and
who were often possessed by some demon. These
persons excited themselves, by all kinds of outward
and physical means, into a state of ecstasy, and,
from observing physical signs, they predicted the
future in a most ambiguous manner, — purposely
ambiguous, — and often their predictions came to
nothing. But not thus was it to be in Israel. There
was to be no divination of that kind in Israel, because
God Himself at the proper time, in every critical
juncture, would show to Israel by His servants the
prophets, the purpose which He purposed in Himself
And as thus the history was always accompanied
by doctrine, and was always accompanied by the
interpretation given by the prophets, so the history
was always connected with the promise of the future,

U

290 THE DOCTRINAL, TYPICAL, AND PROPHETLCAL

for it was all pointing towards the appointed end.
Likewise the history itself was a prophecy of the
future. As the proverb says, " History repeats
itself," or " Coming events cast their shadows before
them." The whole history of God, in His relations,
so to speak, with mankind and with Israel, was a
continual repetition of the same idea and the same
action on God's part, which were at last perfectly ful-
filled in Jesus Christ. Thus the explanation of words
in doctrine, the promise of the future in prophecy, and
the prefiguration of that which was coming in type,
continually went side by side — one illustrating and
confirming the other, and all keeping pace together ;
that is to say, God did not predict anything, of which
the beginning was not already intelligible, to those
to whom the message was sent.

You see from this, that the exposition of the Old
Testament in one respect is very complex, — but to
us who are living in the days of fulfilment there
is given most abundant light, and we are provided
with the clue which is to lead us safely to mani-
fold and yet united preparation — for Jesus Christ
is the end, the consummation of all things. He is
the end of the Jewish history. This you can see
from the genealogy in the book of Matthew.
Abraham is chosen that he may lead to David.
David is not the fulfilment, and therefore the gene-
alogy goes on to the Babylonish captivity. From
the Babylonish captivity there are fourteen genera-
tions which lead up to Jesus, — and in Him the whole
Jewish history reached its culminating point, but not
its termination. The Jewish history is complete in
Christ, and the future of the Jewish history is secured
in Christ, but it has not come to an end, and there-

ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL 291

fore they do greatly err who suppose that the Jewish
history ends with the first advent and the Christian
Church. Rather, in the first advent of Jesus Christ,
is the foundation laid, upon which the yet future
history of Israel is to be constructed, for He was a
minister of the circumcision to confirm the promises
which were given to our father Abraham. The law
is fulfilled in Christ. Christ is the end of the law
to every one that believeth in Him, — and thus, in a
manifold way, the negative aspect of the law is
fulfilled. Having confessed our sin, and seeing that
the curse of God rests upon every one that abideth
not in the law, Christ has removed the curse and
delivered us from the^ sentence of the law, because
He has delivered us from the guilt which we have
incurred ; but, more than that, the righteousness of
the law is fulfilled in us, who walk not after the
flesh but after the spirit, and therefore, to them that
are in Christ Jesus, the law is no longer outside of
them as a foreign power, but the law by the Holy
Ghost has been put within them, by Christ's dwell-
ing in them. But although this is perfectly true,
Christ has not done away with the law of Moses in
its social and in its national aspect, but every jot
and tittle of this law will yet be realised and fulfilled,
when God will make a new covenant with Israel
and put His Spirit within them. Then shall they
walk in all the statutes and ordinances and precepts
which God gave to them through Moses. So also
are all the prophecies fulfilled in Christ Jesus, and
yet not one prophecy is fulfilled perfectly. If we
separate the first from the second advent of Christ,
it is impossible for us to explain the prophecies.
The New Testament fulfilment is the key to open the

292 THE DOCTRINAL, TYPICAL, AND PKOniETICAL

lock, but there is a way of opening the lock and
spoiling the wards of the lock, displacing them,
injuring them, destroying them. Not thus must we
apply the fulfilment to the promises, by explaining
away in an artificial method, what is most clearly
taught. When Christ said in the synagogue of
Nazareth, " This day is this Scripture fulfilled in
your ears," He said so truly, because He is the ful-
filment of the Scripture, and yet that very Scripture
was not completely fulfilled, for the day of vengeance
had not come. That day was still in the future.
When we read that the Messiah that was promised
to Israel has come, this is true, but it is not yet per-
fectly fulfilled, because in the days of the Messiah it
is said that the nations shall learn war no more and
that there shall be peace everywhere,^ — and we know
perfectly well that this is not the case now. Christ
is the fulfilment of all the Old Testament prophecies.
When we view, Christ both in His first advent and
also in His second advent, then we have in Christ
Jesus as He came, and as we expect Him to come,
the explanation of the history of the law and of the
promises, and also the fulfilment of the types, for the
types, both in what they are, and are not, able to re-
present, have now found their end in Jesus Christ, in
whom everything that God has provided for His
people is treasured up, and the fulness of the God-
head dwelleth bodily.

But to make this subject still clearer and simpler, —
my wish is to impress upon you that, notwithstanding
all the complex and manifold character of the Old
Testament revelation, which was unfolded very slowly
" at sundry times, and in divers manners," and in
which there were a great many elements combined.

ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL 293

that appear to us at first sight not to be spiritual but
rather ephemeral — notwithstanding all this, there
was great simplicity and great unity. In Christ
Jesus we have God and man. The whole object of
the Scripture, and the whole object of God Him-
self is to reveal God, as we may know Him, and
also to show how man may come into communion
with God. And this can only be realised in Jesus
Christ, who is both God and man. He is the Son
of God. He is the Son of man. He came down
from heaven. He was born in Bethlehem, He
was sent of the Father : He came of His own
accord. He was the Son of Abraham and yet
Jehovah, " Before Abraham was, I Am." He is the
Son of David, and yet He is David's Lord. Now
these two lines which we see united in Christ are so
wonderful that it is impossible for us to explain the
mode in which they are united, so that the incarnation,
and the history which dates from the incarnation,
must remain a mystery to us, — though we see the fact,
and we are convinced and impressed by that wonder-
ful gift which has been bestowed upon us, in One
who is both God and man in one person, — a truth
revealed in the Old Testament, in its two separate
aspects.

We have two lines in the Old Testament, which it
must have been very difficult for the saints in those
days to combine. The first line is from heaven to
earth. God wishes to reveal Himself He appears ;
He speaks ; He reveals Himself in the form of the
angel of the covenant. That angel of the covenant
speaks as Jehovah ; He gives promises which only
divine wisdom and omnipotence can give, and they
to whom He appears say " We have seen Jehovah."

294 THE DOCTRINAL, TYPICAL, AND PROPHETICAL

It is of this angel of the covenant that we read, that
He appeared to Moses in the burning bush and said
to him, " I am the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and
Jacob." This angel, in whom was the presence of
God and the countenance of God, was He who led
them through the wilderness. It was again a theo-
phany which was vouchsafed to the prophet Isaiah,
and afterwards it is explained to us that Isaiah beheld
Christ and His glory. In the similitude of the Son of
man, God was again seen by Ezekiel and by Daniel,
until the last prophets most distinctly describe to us
that the Lord Jehovah Himself will come. And yet
this Jehovah that comes distinguishes Himself from
the Jehovah that sends Him. And in that last pro-
phecy of Malachi, it is said that there should be sent
a messenger to go before the face of Jehovah. In
all these manifestations, we see God appearing, making
Himself visible and revealing Himself as the redeem-
ing, delivering, helping, and friendly God to the saints,
until we come to God manifest in the flesh.

But there is another line in the Old Testament
going from earth heavenwards, for from the beginning
of the history, God's people were told that they were
to be delivered through a man, the seed of the
woman, one who belongs to Shem, the seed of
Abraham, one of the tribe of Judah, the Son of
David, the servant of God, the root of Jesse, growing
up out of a dry ground. Now as they saw God
coming down from heaven, and then saw man going
up to heaven, — how difficult must it have been for
them to combine those two lines. When Jesus says
" Salvation is of the Jews," when the prophet Jonah
says " Salvation is of Jehovah," Jesus is the ex-
planation and combination of the two things, for He

ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL 295

who came out of Israel, out of this earth, was none
other than the Only Begotten of the Father.

Let me for a icw moments remind you of the
historical books as they are given to us, and of the
unity which they form. There are first the five
books of Moses upon which the whole building
rests, and these five books of Moses are inseparable.
Exodus shows how God redeemed Israel out of
Egypt and brought Israel to Himself. Leviticus
shows us how this redeemed nation was sanctified
to God by the institution of the priesthood, of the
sacrifices, and of the festivals. Numbers shows us
how this nation was disciplined in the wilderness,
and the utter failure of the nation to accomplish
their destiny in the person of Aaron, and even in the
person of Moses himself, who, on account of his sin,
and because he did not fully represent the character
of God, was excluded from entrance into the
land of Canaan. Now it is impossible that the
history could conclude with the book of Numbers,
because then it would conclude as it were with
sunset, in the darkness of despondency. Therefore
in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses appears as
a prophet, showing the loving-kindness of the Lord,
and how, notwithstanding all the unfaithfulness of
Israel and his own imperfection and sin, God would
carry out His plan. Immediately after the book of
Deuteronomy there comes the book of Joshua which
is joined to the book of Deuteronomy by the con-
junction " and." As the book of Joshua joins
Deuteronomy by " and," so the book of the Judges
joins the book of Joshua by saying " And after the
death of Joshua." Judges and the two books of
Samuel are connected together in the same way, for

296 THE DOCTRINAL, TYPICAL, AND PROPHETICAL

in the book of Samuel, Samuel is represented as
judging Israel ; he was, as it were, the last of
the Judges, and the connecting link with David.
The two books of Samuel and the two books of
Kings are so blended and joined together that, in
the Septuagint, they are called " The four books of
Samuel " and they bring the history of Israel down
to the captivity, — concluding with a gleam of hope and
sunshine. Now to supplement this history there is
another book of history given to us the object
of which is to show, how, after the Babylonish
captivity, God's people were restored to their own
land, and the temple service and the priesthood were
revived. And, in order to bring this clearly before
us, it was necessary to give again the genealogies of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their children, and
to connect them with the beginning. So the book of
Chronicles begins with Adam — showing to us the
genealogies, as they follow. But as the 2nd book
of Chronicles ends by telling us how Cyrus gave
permission to the Jews to return to their own land,
the identical two verses open the book of Ezra, and
in Ezra and Nehemiah we have an account of
what formed the beginning of the new period of
Israel's history ; so all these books are united and
compacted together, and all have one object in view,
and what is important to that object is narrated,
and what is not important to that object is omitted, —
however important it may appear to the eyes of
the mere secular or world historian. But Exodus
would have no meaning, unless it was preceded by
the book of Genesis, for who were this people that
Moses was called to bring out of Egypt ? Who was
Abraham ? who was Isaac ? and who was Jacob, the

ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL 297

God of whom appears to Moses and gives to him
that wonderful commission ? It is therefore necessary
that there should precede the book of Exodus, a
book to explain all this ; and so we have not merely
the history of the patriarchs, and the history of
Joseph, by whom the transition was made from
Canaan into Egypt, — but to understand Abraham
aright, and the God of Abraham, it was necessary
also to have the history of the creation of the world,
of Adam, and of Noah, and of the promises which
were given to the fathers. Therefore Genesis is the
necessary prologue to the three middle books of
the Pentateuch, as the book of Deuteronomy is the
epilogue.

Now look at the first three chapters of the book
of Genesis. They form a complete whole : God the
creator of heaven and of earth : man created in the
image of God, as the culminating point of God's
creation : the Sabbath instituted : Paradise described :
Eve formed out of Adam : sin introduced by an
adverse spiritual power : the consequences of sin, —
death, spiritual, temporal, and everlasting : the
immediate result of sin, the conscience acting in
man and accusing him, so that he is ashamed and
he is afraid : the intervention of God, in His great
mercy and love, revealing the deliverance that would
be brought through the seed of the woman, by One
that was to suffer, and also describing the period
which was now to commence, when the judgment
was to be blended with mercy, — the period of chastise-
ment when man, through a severe discipline, was to
learn the meaning of life and was to be exercised unto
godliness. Then there was the manifestation of God
Himself at the entrance of Paradise. Now we find

298 THE DOCTRINAL, TYPICAL, AND PROPHETICAL

that the descendants of Adam, as Adam and Eve
themselves, understood this teaching. They had
faith in God the Creator omnipotent, all-wise, all-
loving, merciful and compassionate to them. They
knew that the wages of sin was death : they knew
that finally there was to come a Deliverer who, by
His own sufferings, was to gain the victory over death
and over him that had the power of death. They
worshipped God in the way, in which He had
appointed ; they relied upon the promise, as we
can see from the words of Eve at the birth of
Cain, and from what Lamech said at the birth of
Noah. So they believed, they hoped, they prayed,
and they served God. There must have been a
manifestation of the presence of the Lord, identified
with some particular place, as we read that Cain fled
from before the presence of the Lord.

Now the New Testament shows to us the deep
meaning of this history. How much the saints of
God understood, who lived in those days, it is
impossible for us to define, but what God meant us
to learn by this history is made manifest, in the
writings of the New Testament, for the promise was
all along developing itself The human race was
from the very beginning divided into the seed of the
woman and the seed of the serpent. The descend-
ants of Cain who left God, the descendants of Seth
who knew God, called upon the name of Jehovah, for
although the name Jehovah, in the fulness of its
meaning, was only disclosed to Israel by Moses, —
just as the meaning of God being the Father was not
fully disclosed to Israel until Jesus Christ came, — yet
they knew the name Jehovah and they called upon
this God of promise. And the future was seen by

ASPECTS OF THE' HISTORY OF ISRAEL 299

them, for Enoch prophesied of it, in which prophecy
he saw approximately the judgment of the Flood, but
ultimately also the final appearing of Jehovah with
all His saints. When we come to Noah we find that
there is a new beginning. He is the second father
of the human race. There is a new beginning — a
beginning which was made only possible through
judgment and deliverance. And here we meet for
the first time with that remarkable expression
" Covenant." " God made a covenant." Among the
heathen nations, such an idea, as that of the Deity or
any god making a covenant, would have been incom-
prehensible. They only understood man's offering to
the gods, as it were, bribes and sacrifices on the con-
dition that they would give them successes in some
enterprise which they undertook ; but for God, in His
sovereignty and in His wonderful love. Himself initiat-
ing a disposition and arrangement of things, in which,
according to His own nature, He promised blessings
which were to extend over centuries — nay, unto the
end of history, — this is a sublime idea which is only
revealed to us in the Scriptures. Covenant, in the
Scripture sense, is not a compact that is made
between two parties, and which is nullified by either
of the parties not fulfilling the conditions, but cove-
nant, as is manifest from the covenant with Noah, is
simply a promise on God's part that, as long as this
dispensation lasts. He will not destroy the world again
with water, and that the four seasons are to succeed
one another, — and, as a seal of that gracious arrange-
ment which God made, — He gave to Noah and his
descendants the sign of the bow in the cloud. And
Noah was a prophet, for to him was revealed the future
history of the race — that Shem was to belong specially

300 THE DOCTRINAL, TYPICAL, AND PROPHETICAL

to Jehovah, and that Japheth was to dwell in the tents
of Shem. And thus the first promise which was
indefinite, speaking merely of the seed of the
woman, received a more definite locality, and became
limited to one of the three sections of the human
race — to Shem.

To consider next the election of Abraham. There
now comes a period in the history of the world where
God, who hitherto has been dealing with the human
race, as one, consisting simply of families, leaves
all other nations to themselves, and separates to
Him one nation, that among them He may kindle
and preserve the light which was ultimately to
illumine the whole world. Just as we see in the
story of the prodigal that the younger son is allowed
by the father to leave the father's house — not without
the portion of goods that belong to him, — that is
the reminiscence of the primaeval revelation, and the
testimony of God in the heart and conscience — and
then to go into a far country, so it was that all the
nations of the world, with the exception of the nation
that was elected in Abraham, were left to go their own
ways. These were the times of ignorance. And the
purpose was this — to bring out what was in man apart
from God — " The world by wisdom knew not God "
— and to show what was the character of sin, when
unrestrained by the divine law. You find described
in the ist chapter of the epistle to the Romans how
the nations forgot God, and because they forgot God,
because they were unthankful, they were given up, to
work out the evil of their own hearts and of their own
souls. And yet, notwithstanding all this, during this
dispensation, God does not forget the Gentiles, and,
when Abraham and the patriarchs and Moses are

ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL 301

brought into contact with the Gentiles, they never
treat them as if they were outside, as it were, of the
goodness and the wisdom of God, but ahvays testify
to them in the name of God, and appeal to that which
they have still retained in their remembrance, of the
knowledge of the Most High. But the question still
is asked, — and it is a great stumbling-block to many,
whether they give utterance to it or not, Why did
God for so many centuries restrict Himself to one
nation, and why were such special promises given
to it only ? The reasons that are given to us in
Scripture are manifold and are very satisfactory,
although it is impossible for us to understand wholly
the counsel of God. Even the apostle Paul, after
having devoted three chapters to explaining the
mystery of Israel, bursts forth into the exclamation :
" Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are His judg-
ments, and His ways past finding out." It was
necessary to separate Israel in order that the fire
should be kindled, and that it should be intense in
its brightness and in its heat. It was necessary to
hedge round Israel from all the other nations by the
strictest injunctions, lest they should forget the know-
ledge which God had given them, and become con-
taminated with the idolatry and abominations of the
nations, that were around them. It was necessary
that there should be prepared a soil out of which
Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, was to appear. He
required the whole of the Jewish nation, so to speak,
from whom He was to arise. And also there was
to be a godly people to welcome Him, who should
form afterwards the nucleus of the Church of Christ.
It is necessary for us also to remember that this

302 THE DOCTRINAL, TYPICAL, AND PROPHETICAL

election of Israel has a spiritual aspect. Not all are
Israel, who are of Israel. Even in Israel the nation
as a whole does not obtain the election, but a portion
obtains it. It was not a carnal descent. It was not
Ishmael but Isaac ; it was not Esau but Jacob ; and
therefore of those who are really descended from
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it is only those who are
godly, spiritually minded, the " little flock," to whom
pertaineth the promise. So that in Israel also there
were the godly and the ungodly, the righteous and
the unrighteous, the wheat and the chaff And that
it was not in a carnal and mere outward way, that God
chose them, is manifest from this — that at all times,
from the very beginning, there was the greatest facility
afforded to those, who were not of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, to be joined to the commonwealth of Israel.
There were hundreds and thousands of strangers from
other nations, who were allowed to be admitted into
the Jewish nation, and to become heirs of the cove-
nant.

Lastly, you must remember this. The apostle
Paul considers those who believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ to be the representatives of the nation. The
others, although numerically they were the majority,
he looks upon as the exception. He uses the ex-
pression, " And what if some have not believed ? "
Now in reality the " some " that have not believed
are a far larger number than those that have believed,
but viewed in a spiritual light, and according to the
reality of God, they are only the exception. The
real stem of the nation is represented by those who
believe in Jesus ; and when Israel is restored again
to its own land and the times are fulfilled, the wall
of separation between Jew and Gentile, which has

ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL 303

been abolished in Christ Jesus, will never be built
up again. That which has passed away will not be
restored. It will be an actual and real re-establish-
ment of Israel in their kingdom. The law of Moses
will be revived in a transfigured way according to
the spirit of the new covenant, but the union between
Israel and the nations who believe in God and His
Anointed will be a perfect union, and from among
the Gentiles, there will be chosen to be in Jerusalem
and in the Holy Land, those who hold a special
position in Israel, — and through all the world there
will be offered to God a pure offering, because they
shall know His name.

Now with regard to Abraham, we read the ex-
pression that God appeared to him. God appeared to
Abraham. There was again that theophany of God,
in which God made Himself known to Abraham.
And to Abraham appeared also the angel of the
Lord, who said, " By myself have I sworn." To
Abraham also there was given the great promise,
and that promise given to him not in itself, but
in the form of a covenant, for with Abraham God
made a covenant which He repeated several times,
which He confirmed with an oath, which He ratified
again to Isaac and Jacob, and upon which the
whole future not merely of Israel rests, but also
the salvation of all the Gentiles who believe in
our Lord Jesus Christ. For this reason Abraham
is not merely the father of Israel but the father of
all the faithful, and all they that believe in Christ
Jesus are of the seed of Abraham, and inheritors
of the promises given to him.

Now that covenant that was made with Abraham
was, as the covenant with Noah, an unconditional

304 THE DOCTKINAL, TYPICAL, AND PROPHETICAL

covenant, sovereign, absolute, unchangeable. The
transgressions of Israel, even though they culminate
in the crucifixion of Jesus, cannot put aside that
covenant, for the gifts and calling of God are
without repentance. The law, which came 400
years afterwards, cannot possibly interfere with this
covenant. It only came in, by way of parenthesis,
to make sin appear exceeding sinful, and to heighten
the expectation of the grace of God. This covenant
with Abraham is the sovereignty of God, into which
He always retreats, whenever the sin of Israel renders
it impossible for Him, humanly speaking, to go on
with them, for the history of Israel would otherwise
often have come to a standstill. When they crucified
Jesus Christ, how would it have been possible for
God to continue His connection with the people of
Israel, if it had not been that He retreated into Himself,
into His own sovereignty, into His eternal counsel,
into that abounding grace to the chief of sinners ?
And therefore it is that an oath is connected with
the covenant, although the word of God without an
oath is perfectly sure and steadfast. When God
says " As I live, saith the Lord," He thereby signifies
that He is retreating, as it were, into His own depths,
and that what He is going to promise is so connected
with Himself, with His character, with His love,
with His glory, with His purpose, that He Himself
is the guarantee that it must come to pass. Oh,
what a firm foundation for our own personal salva-
tion and for the future of Israel — nay, for the future
of the whole race.

And the covenant with Abraham embraces three
points, and you cannot take any one of them away —
first, that from Abraham was to come an exceedingly

ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL 305

numerous nation ; secondly, that that nation was to
possess the land of Canaan ; and thirdly, that the
seed of Abraham was to be the centre of blessing to
all the families of the earth. When we look at these
three points, if it were not for the middle point of
the promise of the land, it might be possible for
people to say, that when Christ came, and when
Christ by His death became the Saviour of sinners,
the promises to Abraham were fulfilled. He had
become a numerous nation ; the Messiah had come ;
and through that Messiah blessings had gone forth
to all the nations of the earth. Take all the promises
which are based upon this covenant that God made
with Abraham in a literal and concrete sense, and
never for a moment forget the land of Canaan, in
which all these promises were to be fulfilled. You
can find no promise in the Old Testament with
reference to Israel — their conversion and the out-
pouring of the Holy Spirit upon them, — except in
connection with their national restoration to the
land which God gave to their fathers. In that
very chapter in Jeremiah, when God says that He
will make a new covenant with them, and give to
them a new heart, and put a right spirit within
them — in that very chapter, and in the subsequent
chapters, are described to us distinctly that, in that
very land which He gave to their fathers, all this
would take place, and also that their national exist-
ence would endure, as long as the sun and moon
and the heavens ; — and so you find in all the pro-
phets, that these things remain steadfast and sure ;
and Jesus Christ Himself confirmed these promises ;
— the oath which God sware to Abraham.

And when God made a covenant and revealed
X

3o6 THE DOCTRINAL, TYPICAL, AND PROPHETICAL

Himself to Abraham, there was as yet no law. God
simply said to Abraham, " I am the Lord ; walk thou
before me and be perfect." On the part of Abraham
there was faith. He believed God, and he believed the
promises of God. When Isaac was not yet born,
the non-existence of Isaac was no difficulty to his
faith. When Isaac was born and grown up, the death
of Isaac was no obstacle to his faith. He offered
him up to the Lord, knowing that God was able
to bring him back again from the dead. And we
find the patriarchs Isaac and Jacob walking in the
footsteps of the Lord, until in Jacob we see that the
promise receives a fuller development. Jacob himself
received the revelations of the angel, the redeemer,
that led him, all his life long. To Him he looked
as the source of blessing for his posterity ; and the
nation that God has chosen does not take its name
from Abraham or Isaac, but from Jacob. And why
is it so ? Because Jacob was called " Israel " just as
Jesus, when He was upon earth, changed the name
of Simon. Only the Searcher of Hearts has the
power of changing the name. Jesus called Simon
" Cephas." Jehovah changed the name of Abram
into Abraham, and unto Jacob he gave the name
" Israel," and that has become the name of the whole
nation. And why is this the name of the whole
nation ? Because it is the divinely given character
of the nation, as opposed to all the nations of the
world. Israel gains the victory. Israel gains the
victory only from God. Israel gains the victory
from God, only through strong crying and tears and
supplication ; and Israel, after having gained the
victory, does not go forth with the firm and jubilant
tread of a hero, but halting, even as the apostle Paul

ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL 307

went forth with the thorn in his flesh, glorying even
in his infirmities, because the strength of God was
made perfect in his weakness.

And here is a remarkable thing — that at so early
a stage the twelve tribes knew themselves to be one,
and had one common name. The Athenian historian,
Thucydides, states as a very extraordinary thing, that
the various Greek tribes lived for so many centuries
without having any bond of unity between them, and
that only recently had there been found out a name,
by which the whole of these different tribes could
be designated, — the name of Hellenes ; — whereas we
see from the song of Deborah, the early date of which
has never been doubted by any expositor, that all
the tribes knew themselves to be Israel, and that
their union was in Jehovah from whom alone came
the victory, and unto whom alone belong the glory
and the praise. And to Jacob there was revealed,
when he blessed his twelve sons, that from among
all those sons, Judah was the one that was chosen, —
that out of the tribe of Judah there was to come
the Deliverer.

And now I wish to make one remark. The apostle
Paul describes the character of the whole dispensation
up to Moses, in one sentence. He says that until
Moses, sin was in the world, but because there was
no law sin was not as yet imputed, nevertheless death
reigned from Adam upon those that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgression. And we
find in the whole book of Genesis that the conscious-
ness of sin was dormant in the people. Abraham
humbles himself before God ; he says " I am but dust
and ashes." Jacob when he humbles himself before God
says, " I am unworthy of the least of thy mercies " ; —

3o8 DOCTRINAL ASPECTS OF HISTORY OF ISRAEL

but those deep confessions of sin and guilt, which
we find afterwards among the saints of God, we do
not find in the book of Genesis. Why ? Because
the law had not yet been given to make sin exceed-
ing sinful. Of ' course they had the consciousness
of sin and the knowledge of the difference between
good and evil, but the consciousness of sin was not
prominent. And therefore the types in Genesis do
not refer so much to Christ the expiation and substi-
tute, as to Christ the restorer from death unto life,
and from suffering unto glory. This is the typology
of the book of Genesis. Abel the righteous one
has to suffer. Enoch the godly one is taken up
into heaven. Noah and his household are restored
from death unto life, and make a new commencement
of history. Melchisedek appears to Abraham not
as a sacrificing priest, but as the type of Him who is
the priest after the power of an endless life, and who
is able to give blessing to the children of God, —
offering to them bread and wine. Isaac is not so
much a type of Christ as a substitute, as of the
method in which God through death can yet fulfil
the promise, and restore the seed to whom is given
that promise. Joseph, lastly, is the type of Christ,
through humiliation and prison and suffering, exalted
to power and glory, — to be the source of salvation
and blessing to His own household, as well as to
Egypt.

XV

THE DEEP SPIRITUAL MEANING OF THE DECA-
LOGUE AND OF THE WHOLE LAW

The great lessons conveyed in the Pentateuch — The paschal lamb —
The departure from Egypt — Mount Sinai — The Shemites gener-
ally idolaters, not monotheists — De Quincey on the idea of God —
The philosopher's abstract God — The covenant of Sinai, what
was it ? — Not a covenant of works — The covenant with David
(2 Samuel vii.) not of works — The law, usually divided into moral,
ceremonial, and political — An element of truth in this division, but
in the main deceptive — Not morality that is taught in the ten
commandments, but our relation to God — How striking is the
statement, " Unto a thousand generations of them that love me
and keep my commandments " — Love to God the centre of the
law — The so-called "ceremonial" law deeply spiritual — The ten
commandments, as it were, the face of the law — ^Jehovah repeated
6000 times in Old Testament, and Elohim only 2500 times — God
speaks as the loving God with the very tenderness of Christ,
when on earth — The love of God felt and seen with all intensity
in the Psalms and the Prophets — Propitiation understood clearly —
Christ the fulfilment and clear interpreter of the law.

Let us for a few moments look back again on the
teaching connected with the history recorded in the
book of Genesis. Genesis is the Alpha of Scripture,
and because Jesus Christ is the Alpha, Genesis is full
of Christ. The higher teaching which is given to us
in the apostolic scriptures brings out deeper truths
than those which we considered, when we dwelt
chiefly upon the training which God gave to the
human race, and to His chosen ones, Abraham, Isaac,

3IO DEEP SPIRITUAL MEANING

and Jacob, — limiting ourselves to what they were
most probably able to understand at the time. But
who that has read the gospels and the epistles and
the book of Revelation can fail to see, hidden in
the book of Genesis, still more wonderful truths and
spiritual and heavenly realities ? Before that " In the
beginning" of the ist chapter of Genesis, there is the
eternal beginning which is revealed to us in the ist
chapter of the gospel of John ; and in the light of
that chapter of John and many declarations of the
apostle Paul — who can fail to see in the ist chapter
of Genesis the revelation of the blessed Trinity ?
Ten times it is written " And God said," for by the
word of the Lord all things were made, — and the Spirit
of God was moving upon the face of the waters.
Who can fail to see, in the light of the teaching given
to us in Corinthians and in Romans, that the first
Adam was a type of the last Adam, and that, as by
the disobedience of the first many were constituted
sinners, so by the obedience of Christ, the everlasting
Son, many are constituted righteous, in the sight of
God. The formation of Eve out of Adam, we are
told in the epistle to the Ephesians, is a type of the
creation of the Church of Jesus Christ, out of Him
who was crucified and who rose again from the dead.
The meaning of God resting upon the seventh day
is explained to us in the epistle to the Hebrews, as
showing that God in His great love wishes to intro-
duce us by faith into His rest, that thus we may find
our blessedness in Him. The victory that is pro-
nounced shall be achieved over the serpent. What
else is it but that victory which spiritually was
achieved when Jesus Christ died upon the cross
and the prince of this world was cast out, and which

OF THE DECALOGUE AND WHOLE LAW 311

shall be achieved actually, as is written in the
20th chapter of the book of Revelation, when
Satan shall be chained for a thousand years, — and
finally accomplished, when Satan shall be bruised
under our heel ? In the light of the New Testa-
ment also we can understand how Abel, Noah, and
Enoch unitedly show forth that Jesus the Good
Shepherd, the Righteous One, must die, that Jesus
was the deliverer of the household of faith from
the floods of God's judgment, and that Jesus, like
Enoch, ascended up on high, having this testimony —
that He went unto the Father, because of righteous-
ness. In the light of the New Testament we under-
stand that Babel had its antitype in Pentecost, when,
by the gift of the Holy Ghost, all nations were
united together in one faith* and in the common
understanding of the mysteries of God, and that
the judgment upon Babel is typical of that last
judgment, which we read of in the book of Revela-
tion, when Babylon shall fall. A different and a
higher light falls also upon the life and upon the
manifestations of God to the patriarchs, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob ; and in the final history with
which Genesis concludes, Joseph is truly understood
in the prophetic light, not as a type of Christ's
relation to sinners in general, but a type of Christ's
relation to Israel, after He has been a blessing to
the Gentiles, when He rouses the children of Jacob —
who, although nominally they have been faithful to
the God of their fathers, yet in reality have blood-
guiltiness upon their conscience, — when He reveals
Himself to them in the greatest tenderness and love
" I am Joseph your brother."

But however these deep mysteries may to a

DEEP SPIRITUAL MEANING

certain extent have been known unto the people
of that age, one thing, as we have seen already,
we must clearly understand. They did know that
God revealed Himself to them ; God showed Himself
as a God of mercy ; God gave to them the promise
of a deliverer from death and the consequences of
sin, — and their attitude was simply the attitude of
faith, which is the only attitude in which, during any
dispensation, men are able to please God. They
were believers. It was by faith that they served
God, and the very first time that the word " righteous-
ness " is mentioned in Scripture is when we are told
that Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to
him for righteousness ; and the very first time that
the word " priest " is mentioned in Scripture is in
connection with MelcWsedek, who had in himself
the right of priesthood, and who is a type of that
Priest, who is now seated upon the throne of glory
and brings blessings, under the covenant, unto His
people.

Now when, in the book of Exodus, the history
which had been interrupted for 400 years begins
again, we see the children of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, in sore captivity and bondage, for the great
truth had to be typified that the people whom God
has elected are a people, who are in great misery
and who must be redeemed. In Egypt, Israel,
according to the providence of God, was brought
into contact with the highest civilised nation of the
world, and yet at the same time was kept separate,
on account of the antipathy which the Egyptians had
to shepherds ; and although the idolatry of Egypt
to a certain extent contaminated Israel, yet, on
the whole, Israel kept faithful to the remembrance

OF TFIE DECALOGUE AND WHOLE LAW 313

of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So it
was by faith, that the parents of Moses watched over
the infant that was entrusted to their care. In God
they beHeved, and in the promises which were made
to the fathers ; and they had not forgotten, that
Joseph by faith had given commandment concerning
his bones, that these were not ahvays to remain in
Egypt, — but that surely God would bring Israel back
into the land which He had given them, and that
then they were to bury him in that land, that was
dear to the heart of faith.

As they had this faith in God the Creator, in
the only God who had chosen their fathers, and
whose covenant was an unconditional covenant, so
it was necessary that these truths should be still
more firmly impressed upon their mind, before the
great dealings of God with Israel commenced, and
they beheld God in His supremacy, in the miracles
to be wrought upon the Egyptians, — which proved
to them that God was above all the powers of
nature. And the connection between sin and death
was made manifest to them, — how God redeemed
them out of Egypt simply on account of His
sovereign mercy, and not owing to any superior
merit which they possessed, — by that wonderful
type of the paschal lamb and of the blood which
was sprinkled against the door-post, — showing that
they also were under sin and under the curse and
under the condemnation of death ; but that God in
His great mercy had provided a substitute, by the
shedding of whose blood it was possible for Him
to carry out His counsels, with mercy and com-
passion.

And that night in Egypt — when, by faith, they

314 DEEP SPIRITUAL MEANING

slew the paschal lamb, and sprinkled the blood
and ate of the lamb, having their loins girded, in
repentance, in humility, in trustfulness towards God,
in thankfulness, in entire dependence upon His
power and His grace — was memorable throughout
the whole history of Israel. It was the beginning
of their history. Afterwards in the book of Kings,
when Solomon built the temple, we are told that
it was so many hundred years, after God brought
Israel out of Egypt. This was the beginning of their
chronology. It was the first month of the year to
them — the beginning of every year. The whole
national existence is rooted in that exodus from
Egypt — a marvellous fact which will find its full
illustration when, according to the gospel of John,
Israel in the latter days shall look upon Him whom
they have pierced, upon that Paschal Lamb of which
not a bone was to be broken, — Alpha of Israel's
history, Omega of Israel's history. All the prophets
allude to this — that God brought them out of Egypt.
And you remember who it was that said, "With de-
sire have I desired to eat this passover with you " ?
Not until the greater event shall happen, the still
more wonderful manifestation of the power and grace
of Jehovah, when He shall make Israel again His
manifest and glorified people, shall that night be
forgotten, or the remembrance of that great exodus
be eclipsed. And not merely the exodus, but also
the deliverance out of the Red Sea was entirely by
the power of God, for this also was to be made
secure unto Israel. Not merely did God alone
redeem them out of Egypt, but it was God only
who was their sanctification, and who separated them
from Egypt and from the power of Egypt. Oh, how

OF THE DECALOGUE AND WHOLE LAW 315

clearly did they understand this, as we can see from
the song of Moses and of the people of Israel. God
only is holy : God only has redeemed His people.
He has redeemed them to bring them near to
Himself, into His sanctuary, where they may be
in communion with Him, and where He shall reign
for ever and for ever.

But the reason why He brought them out of
Egypt, as was said to Pharaoh, was this, that upon
Mount Sinai He might betroth them to Himself, as
His own people. Mount Sinai is generally viewed,
and correctly viewed, as the mountain where God
manifested His severe justice and His awful majesty.
Even Moses himself was filled with fear and trem-
bling. But there is another aspect of Mount Sinai,
which we also read of in the prophets. It was, as
it were, the place where God, who had brought His
bride out of Egypt, betrothed Himself unto her — " I
remember the time of thy first love, the day of
thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the
wilderness."

Israel is God's son. Unto Israel pertaineth the
adoption. Here we are not in the territory of
creation and nature. Whatever is said about God
being a universal Father, and there are some ele-
ments of truth in that representation, it does not come
into contact with this. Not because God created
Israel, and has created all human beings, is He
their Father, else the term " adoption " would have
no meaning. " Out of Egypt have I called my Son."
He has adopted them to be His — " His own."

Now before I begin to speak about what God
said and did upon Mount Sinai, let me remind you
of that wonderful phenomenon which has become

3i6 DEEP SPIRITUAL MEANING

more and more observed by all historians and by all
those who investigate the religions of different nations
— that there is no trace of monotheism to be found,
until we come to Abraham, and therefore only by
something wonderful and supernatural can we account
for the fact that there was a race who worshipped
one God and who knew that God by name, — for all
the Shemitic tribes, without any exception except the
Jews, were idolaters. They were not merely idolaters,
but the number of their gods and goddesses and
heroes was exceedingly large, and their idolatry was
connected with great abominations and degrading
sins. In Israel, although there was often a falling
away into idolatry, or an attempt to combine the
worship of Jehovah with idolatrous usages and places,
all idolatry is always regarded, as a going after strange
gods and after new gods. There is not the slightest
trace in Scripture or anywhere else that Israel at
one period of its existence was idolatrous, or semi-
idolatrous, and then gradually rose to the knowledge
of there being one God. Idolatry is always spoken
of as adultery which Israel had committed, for God
was from the beginning the very God who had re-
vealed Himself unto them, and it was only from other
nations that they adopted the idea of there being
gods, and of those idolatrous services which were
connected with their ideas of gods. There is the
significant fact that there is no word in the Hebrew
language for goddess. Such an idea never entered
into their minds. That entire degradation of the idea
of God — whatever remnant there may have been left
in the minds of men from the primaeval revelation —
that thorough degradation of the idea of God, accord-
ing to which men knew really of no God, but only a

OF THE DECALOGUE AND WHOLE LAW 317

personification of the powers of life, had never any
place among the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. This point is so important that I would like
to read to you two statements in regard to it of two
English writers ; the first from De Ouincey. "There
is one sole idea of God. Of this idea two things
may be affirmed : the first thing, that it is at the root
of all absolute grandeur, of all truth, and of all moral
perfection ; the second is, that, natural and easy
as it seems when once unfolded, it could only have
been unfolded by Revelation ; and to all eternity, he
that started with the false conception of God, could
not through any effort of his own have exchanged it
for a true one. All idolatries alike, though not all in
equal degrees, by intercepting the idea of God through
the prism of some representative creature that partially
resembles God, refract, splinter, and distort that idea,
so that idolatry is not merely one of many evils, and
one utterly beyond the power of social institutions
to redress, but in fact it is the fountain of all other
evil, that seriously menaces the destiny of the human
race." The great importance of this is evident.
Men who do not wish to believe all that is written
in the Bible select a few things from the Bible which
they like, and then give themselves the appearance
as if they had found out these great truths by their
own reason, or from the intuitions of their own mind ;
whereas they would never have known that there is
a God who has created the heavens and the earth,
except through the revelation which God gave to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And not merely would
they not have known that there is one Godhead, — •
important as this is, it is not of the chief importance;
— some philosophers have supposed that there could

3i8 DEEP SPIRITUAL MEANING

be only one supreme cause of all things ; but that
is not God. To believe in a Godhead and in a
supreme being, is not to believe in God. I may
see the beautiful pictures and sculptures which
some great artist has produced, but I do not know
him. The little child that plays with him knows
him as his father — knows his person, knows his
countenance, knows his love. Of what use is that
abstraction of Deity which the philosophers possess ?
Canon Mozley says : " The vulgar among the heathen
believed in many gods ; the philosopher believed
in a universal cause ; but neither believed in God.
It is perfectly evident — I cannot understand how
people can read the Bible and not see it, but they
do not. The vulgar believed in many gods ; the
philosopher believed in a universal cause ; but neither
believed in God. The philosopher only regarded the
universal cause, as the spring of the universal machine,
which was necessary to the working of all parts, but
was not thereby raised to a separate order of being
from them. Theism was discussed as a philosophical,
not as a religious question. Nothing could have
astonished him more than, when he had proved in
the lecture-hall the existence of a God, to have been
told to worship Him. ' Worship Him,' he would
have answered ; ' worship what ? ' Would you picture
him indignant at the polytheistic superstition of the
crowd, and manifesting some spark of the fire of
St. Paul, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry?
You could not have been more mistaken. He would
have said that you did not see a plain distinction.
The crowd was right on the religious question ; the
philosopher right on the philosophical. However
men may uphold in argument an infinite abstraction.

OF THE DECALOGUE AND WHOLE LA IF 319

they could not worship it. The hearer was much
better fitted for worship than a universal cause —
fitted for it not in spite of, but in consequence of his
want of true divinity. The supreme being among the
Brahmins was a characterless impersonal essence, a
mere residuum of intellectual analysis. No temple was
raised to him, no knee was bended to him ; without
action, without will, without affection, without thought,
he was a substratum of everything himself — a nothing.
Thus the idea of God was far from calling forth in
the ancient world the idea of worship. It ever stood
in antagonism with it. One simple nation alone
of antiquity worshipped God, believed the universal
being to be a personal being — God." And while
Israel knew God and knew His name, they were
opposed to all idolatry, and as we have seen before,
Nebuchadnezzar and Darius and Cyrus, and many
of the Gentile nations, were taught by them the idea
of God ; and since Israel has forsaken God, and His
own proper name of God, with which to go out into
the world, but only prides itself in the idea of the
unity of God, which sinks back again into the philo-
sophical idea of an abstraction, they have done
nothing to disturb the idolater and to convert the
heathen nations. But we Christians who believe in
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and who have the
name of Jesus standing out as a personal name, even
as Israel of old had the name of Jehovah — we have
gone forth, and many have turned from idols to serve
the true and living God, and to wait for the coming
of the Lord Jesus from heaven.

Now this God brought Israel out of Egypt and
there they were before Him, at Mount Sinai ; and
this God was holy, and yet He was their covenant

320 DEEP SPIRITUAL MEANING

God. What is holiness ? Holiness can only be under-
stood by what Scripture teaches us of it. All other
ideas must give way, and we must be perfectly silent
to hear the voice of God. Holiness has generally
been explained as the love of that which is good,
and the hatred of that which is evil. But that is
not holiness ; it is a consequence of holiness ; it is a
manifestation of holiness ; but holiness does not con-
sist in this. The holiness of God, as it is revealed
to us in Scripture, seems to me to be this. It is not
one of many attributes, but it is that, out of which all
the attributes of God flow, and in which they all are
connected. God is holy ; He only is holy ; and the
holiness of God is, so to speak, the infinite self-
containedness of God, that He is Himself and nothing
else, that in Himself there is all that is infinitely
pleasing to Him, that He is sovereign, majestic ; and
as this holiness of God consists in there being nothing
and none, with whom God can be compared, and unto
whom we can liken Him, the brightness of God, the
majesty and transcendence of God above all things
and above all persons, so this holiness has two
aspects. In one aspect it removes God to an infinite
distance from all that is creaturely, and therefore
it is that which appears to be what prevents us
from drawing near to Him, — for, according to that
holiness of God, God is of purer eyes than to behold
iniquity ; and as He is God of life, death, — and every-
thing that leads to death is impure in His sight, and
cannot appear before Him, so that the guilty, and
those that are under the sentence of death from their
birth onwards, are separated from God. But just as
the life of God, in one aspect, is a consuming fire
against everything that is opposed to God, in another

OF THE DECALOGUE AND WHOLE LAW 321

aspect, like the light, although it cannot bear that
anything should touch it that is not light, — it is es-
sentially communicated. Thus it is the holiness of
God which comes into the hearts of people to bring
them into closest communion with Himself

Therefore we find this double aspect of holiness —
Holy, holy, holy. Lord God of Hosts, not to abide
alone : " Heaven and earth are full of thy glory."
Glory is holiness manifested ; holiness is glory con-
cealed. Isaiah trembles because he is a man of
unclean lips, and dwelling among a people of unclean
lips. It is the Holy One who sends him forth. He
is the Holy One of Israel, not to condemn Israel :
" The Holy One of Israel, and thy Redeemer," there-
fore the holiness of God has this double aspect — God
is God. Sin and death cannot appear before God.
But just because God is God, therefore He is able to
sanctify a people unto Himself; and how does God
make anything holy ? Simply by His bringing it
near to Himself. It is not by any inherent quality
that He infuses into a person or into a place. Wher-
ever God chooses to manifest Himself that ground is
holy ; and whatever sinners God chooses to bring
near to Himself, from that moment they are holy. So
was the thief on the cross holy, the moment he said
" Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."
By bringing them unto Himself, God constitutes them
holy. But Israel was a sinful nation, as we all are
sinful, but God said " They are my nation, a kingdom
of priests unto me, a holy nation. I have separated
them unto myself."

But what is now that covenant that God initiated
upon Mount Sinai ? Is it a covenant of works ? Is
it a law, in its aspect of condemnation and of curse ?

Y

DEEP SPIRITUAL MEANING

In one respect it is. That was only a very limited,
secondary and, if I may so speak, negative attribute
of the dispensation, which commenced upon Mount
Sinai. Only think of it. The unconditional cove-
nant which was made with Noah, and of which the
rainbow is the sign ; the unconditional covenant
which was made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
and of which circumcision is the seal, could never be
frustrated by anything which should happen subse-
quently, as the giving of the law on Mount Sinai
400 years after, and the dispensation which fol-
lowed from it. God by an oath had sworn unto
Abraham, that He would be his God and the God of
his descendants, and that He would give them the
land, and that He would give them the Messiah. This
oath could not have been frustrated, could not have
been modified, could not have been put aside, by that
which God is now going to reveal to them. This
is the first reason.

Second reason. If it was a covenant of works, —
on condition of Israel's disobedience God would reject
them, and on that of Israel's obedience God would
befriend them ; then, when Israel made a golden calf
and worshipped it, the history of Israel ought to have
ceased. The covenant was broken. God had no
longer anything to do with them. But so far from
this being the case, God returns again to this promise,
" I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." The
history of redemption commenced. The covenant
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is dear to the heart
of God, and the only hope of His people, — it flows
on, a river of mercy, with as great vitality and fulness
as it ever possessed before.

The third reason. A covenant of works, with

OF THE DECALOGUE AND WHOLE LA W 323

death, curse, condemnation ? Yes, it is perfectly true,
but why is it that God again reveals all His name ?
" The Lord God, gracious, merciful, slow to anger,
plenteous in redemption." Why is it that in that law
God gives them priests — gives them a tabernacle and
gives them sacrifice ? God says, I will forgive your
sins and I will make you draw near to me. How is
it that none of the prophets ever for a single moment
thought that the covenant with Abraham had been
set aside, or that they were living under the curse,
or that they did not know the grace of God, —
God forgiving and God sanctifying them ? It was
necessary that it should be made plain to Israel that
the law had this aspect : " You are all guilty in the
sight of God, and if I were to deal with you accord-
ing to that which is required by the corresponding
part on your side to the law, I should have nothing
more to do with you. You depend entirely upon
sovereign mercy, upon grace." The law itself thus
mocks, so to speak, at its own utter insufficiency, and
points us to that covenant of grace which is rooted
in the eternal love of God. It was with the Jews,
as it is with you. Every man that is not converted
is under the law, and under the curse of the law,
although this is a gospel dispensation. Else why
do you need to say " God be merciful to me a sinner,"
and " What shall I do to be saved " ; and what under-
standing have you of the new covenant unless you
know that you are transgressors, and transgressors of
what ? Transgressors of the law of God. There
were the wicked and the worldly, and the law was a
testimony to them and bridled them, and was a hedge
round them lest they should go on to worse, and it
warned them that they might be led if, possible, to

324 DEEP SPIRITUAL MEANING

repentance. There were the people whom our blessed
Saviour describes, " Blessed are the poor in spirit,
blessed are they that mourn, blessed are the meek,
blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteous-
ness." There were Zachariah and Elizabeth. They
were righteous before God, walking in all the ordin-
ances and commandments of the Lord — blameless.
Do you think that Zachariah and Elizabeth thought
that they were justified by the works of the law ?
They were righteous before the Lord in the way in
which any sinner can be righteous — in the way in
which Abraham was righteous before the Lord, and
in the way in which all Christians are righteous before
the Lord, because they believed the Word which He
had given to them ; and therefore because they waited
for the redemption, they walked in the ordinances
and commandments of the Lord. And then there
were the Pharisees and the self-righteous, as Saul
of Tarsus, who did not understand the spirituality of
the law — who went about to establish a righteousness
of their own, by the works of the law — who did not
see that the law was spiritual, and that neither
righteousness nor life could come by the law. The
aspect of Jesus on his appearing to Saul crushed
him — revealed to him the whole splendour of the
law, and the insufficiency of the law, and he cried
out for a Redeemer.

To make this still plainer, it is the covenant of
works, it is the dispensation of law, but only on
the outside, and only as to the shell, — not as to
the kernel, God says to Jerusalem : — I will make a
covenant with you, not as the first covenant was
when I gave you my law, and you transgressed it,
when I was a husband unto Israel. God always

OF THE DECALOGUE AND WHOLE LAW 325

was a husband unto Israel during the whole period.
" Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement ? "
Israel went away from God, but God never said
" I give thee up." He was always the covenant
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or as we say
" The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
according as he has chosen us in him before the
foundation of the world."

So the covenant with David. Take the covenant
that God made with David, 2nd book of Samuel,
7th chapter. God made a covenant with David —
" The sure mercies of David," — a covenant which
was ordered, in all things perfect, the covenant
upon which salvation depends, — and that also was
conditional. He said, " If thy sons walk in my
ways I will bless them and be with them. If they
transgress I will chastise them. According to the
work side of the covenant, the conditional side of the
covenant " — where is the house of David ? Were
not the last occupants of the throne of David led
into the captivity ? And for more than 400 years
before Jesus came, was there any one sitting upon the
throne of his father David } Then did it come to
nought ? Yes, it came to nought, as everything was
a dead failure, and must be a dead failure, under any
conditional covenant and under the law. But the
covenant with David could not come to nought, for
Jesus is the son of David, and the title-deeds of
Palestine are now at the right hand of the majesty
of God. In Jesus the covenant is fulfilled, and thus
it is that the glory of God in Jesus shines through
the whole of that law, which God gave to Israel.

Let us look now at the law, the law which God
gave to His people — a theocracy in which God is

326 DEEP SPIRITUAL MEANING

the king, Israel is the nation, Palestine is the land.
There must be a law. Oh what a blessed 'thing it is
that there is a divine law. Not the opinion of the
majority. Majority ? — if wisdom characterised human
beings, or goodness characterised human beings, then
we might have some faith in what the majority says.
God gives the law, His eternal law, a blessed law, a
perfect law. The whole authority of the law eman-
ates from Himself, and it is to teach all the nations
of the world, — to show to them — what God's idea
of a nation is, and what government is. All experi-
ments that are made in politics and in social science
— containing as they do exceedingly great and ex-
ceedingly tender problems — will fail ; and at last
it will be seen that the true principles of national
existence are contained in the five books of Moses.

This law is usually divided into moral, ceremonial,
and political ; but this division, although there is an
clement of truth in it, does a good deal of mischief in
diverting the attention of people from what is really
the character of the law. As James says in his epistle,
'* The law is one : you cannot divide it " ; and for
the simple reason that there is one law-giver — that is
God ; and therefore whether God says " Thou shalt
love thy neighbour," or whether He says that you are
not to do this thing and not to do the other thing, it
is the same God that gives the law. The same life
animates the whole. It is an organism, and as for
calling one part of the law moral law, the expression
moral is entirely inadequate, for it is not morality
that is taught in the ten commandments ; — it is our
relation to God. It is not that we are to love the
true, the good, and the beautiful — a neuter thing — but
we are to love God. We should not find this out

OF THE DECALOGUE AND WHOLE LAW 327

by our unassisted reason and conscience. But here it
is the first table of the law — what God is, what God is
to us, and how we are to stand in Him and in our
love to Him. Therefore to call it moral law is to lead
away from that which is the very glory of the law.
Oh how majestic it is to read the beginning of these
ten commandments and the expression of the pro-
mises " Unto thousands of generations of them that
love me and keep my commandments." You re-
member the gentle voice in that little upper chamber
in Jerusalem that said " If ye love me keep my com-
mandments,"— that is the voice of Jehovah. No other
being — angel or man — no other could say, " The root
of all that is pleasing to God is that you have
affection for me personally " ; and no other has a
right to give commandments but God.

Then, again, as to the ceremonial law. People
imagine by " ceremonial " something to strike the
senses, something to add pomp and beauty to
services, something in which there is no reality.
There were no ceremonies in Israel. It was all
the preaching of eternal truths and of spiritual
substances, and real transactions between God and
the people. This ceremonial law, as it is called,
contains the most sublime and touching aspect of
the will of God : " Whether ye eat or drink or
whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
God wishes to have communion with people in their
daily business, in their seed-time, and in their
harvest, in all the relationships of their earthly life.

And as for the national law, it is only the expres-
sion, and the application to the nation of Israel, of
the ideas and truths and relationships, expressed in
the spiritual law and in the preparatory evangelical

328 DEEP sr J RITUAL MEANING

law, which God had given to His people. But
all this does not preclude me from acknowledging
that the ten commandments, spoken by God Him-
self and written by God Himself, stand as it were
on a majestic height. They are, so to speak, the
face of the law ; and as you see the intelligence and
the affection of a man in his countenance, so the
whole law of God shows its face to us, in those ten
words which the Lord spoke. Now see the covenant
of works — or, rather, do not see the covenant of works,
for you will not be able to see it. " I am the Lord "
— that is the holiness of God, Jehovah. Six thousand
times the name of Jehovah is mentioned in the Old
Testament, and the name Elohim, which describes God
the Creator, only 2500 times. 'T am Jehovah" — that
is the holiness of God. " I am the Lord thy God " —
that is the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob :
and you are His children. And as God gives Himself
to the people as their God, He thereby sanctifies
the people and draws them up to Himself And
lest any one should imagine that this is based simply
upon the relation of God as a creator to His creatures,
or the universal fatherhood of God, He says, " I am
Jehovah, thy God," according to the election of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, " which brought thee
out of the land of Egypt." The blood of the
covenant — that is the foundation upon which the
whole ten commandments rest. That is the most
precious part of the ten commandments. Let
nobody speak of the ten commandments, unless
he understands this verse. To take away this verse
is to take away the glory, the diadem, the head,
the heart of the ten commandments. And this verse
is the gospel and nothing but the gospel. And

OF THE DECALOGUE AND WHOLE LA W 329

because this is God, holy covenant God, redeemer
God, they were to have no other god — thou shalt
have no other gods beside me ; and not merely
have no other gods beside me, but this very idea
of God which has been revealed to us is not to
be formulated or illustrated or shaped according to
the imagination of our hearts, or, as De Ouincey
says, brought down to a lower level ; and this law
which forbids us to make any image of God is the
"divine right" of Puritanism, that man has no
right to invent ceremonies or methods of his own
whereby to worship God. God stands by Himself
and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth ;
and since God in His wonderful love has made
Himself known to us, — like the artist and sculptor
of whom I spoke who is known to his little child,
who may not even have seen any of his pictures
or any of his statues, — so that we know the name
of God, as we know now the blessed name of Jesus, —
you must keep this name of God separate from
all your ideas and the desires of your hearts, and
the manners and customs of the world, and walk
in the name of the Lord only. And being thus
with God, God in His great mercy says, " Come
unto me all ye weary and heavy-laden ones, and
I will give you rest"; I will make you partakers of
my rest, and I will give you as a sign of that, the
Sabbath day, and you shall rest in me, and know
that, notwithstanding all the toils and troubles and
afflictions of this earthly life, you are not a beast of
burden merely ; and you are not only to work for
meat that perisheth, but I myself am your portion,
and you will become a source of rest and blessing
to your wife, and to your son, and to your daughter,

330 DEEP SPIRITUAL MEANING

and to your manservant, and to your maidservant,
and even to your horses and to all your cattle. It
was the idea of God to make His people happy
before Him, so that under the law of Moses there
were very few fast days, but a great number of
feast days, in which the people were to rejoice
before the Lord God in the beautiful harvest, and
in all the bounties, with which He had surrounded
them. And as they are to be a nation upon the
earth, — His representatives here upon earth, — He
has put His crown upon all fathers and mothers, as
being His representatives, and therefore He says
" Honour thy father and thy mother," which is the
foundation of all national prosperity, and which
includes also all reverence for authorities and
governments, which the Lord in His providence
establishes. And then He comes to the relation of
man to man, and there He passes from the outward
to the inward — commanding us to love our neighbour
as ourself! doing him no injury by act, doing him
no injury by word, doing him no injury in the most
inward recesses of our hearts: "Thou shalt love him."
This is the law that God gave, and, like God, there
is nothing to compare with it. Oh that it were
taught in all our families ! oh that it were taught in
all our schools ! and that it were taught everywhere,
where there are human beings walking upon the face
of the earth, for the law is spiritual. Moses sums
up the law, and Jesus sums up the law, but Jesus
makes one beautiful reflection. He says the first
commandment must necessarily be love to God.
The other is second, but He does not like to put
it even second because, if it is second, it might be
separated perhaps from the first. Jesus Christ is so

OF THE DECALOGUE AND WHOLE LAW 331

anxious to show that the first table of the law and
the second table of the law are inseparably connected
that He says the other is second, but " like unto it."
And the whole ist epistle of John is only an ex-
position of this — that love to God and love to man
go hand in hand together, not as Cain was, who
hated his brother Abel ; and wherefore did he hate
him ? because he hated God ; for if he had loved
God, he would have loved Abel also.

But take a higher view of the ten commandments.
The ten commandments, I have said, were the face
of the law, the countenance of the law ; but I am
bold enough to say that the ten commandments
are the very countenance of God Himself. God is
Spirit. " Thou shalt not make thyself any graven
image, thou shalt hallow the name of God " ; " God is
light and truth " ; " Thou desirest truth in the inward
parts"; "Cleanse thou me from secret faults"; " Thou
shalt not covet." And the hallowing of the name
of God corresponds also with this — that God is
light and God is truth.

And lastly, God is love. ^ And what is the second
table of the law but this, that God is the Father of
the large family, and that the children are to love
one another and to treat one another, according to
the character of God Himself. And therefore, when
our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ has spoken of the
righteousness, there is no other righteousness but
that righteousness which is described in the ten
commandments. When He dwelt upon the various
commandments, — as Moses with the three elders
that ascended up on high, even above the clouds
and darkness of the Mount, and saw the God of
Israel and the blue under his feet, and as the lark

332 DEEP SPIRITUAL MEANING

which soars up higher with her thrilHng melody, so
Jesus Christ says unto us, "What is this law, but that
ye may be the children of your Father which is in
heaven." It is the image of the Father that you
ought to see in this law : " Be ye therefore merciful
and generous as your Father is merciful and generous.
And be ye perfect as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect." This was the law which God gave to
His people. But as the Lord was holy, just, and
good, and as Israel was sinful and guilty and polluted
and under the sentence of death, how was it possible
— what was the method by which it was possible —
that there should be communion between God and
the people ? And yet God, because He is holy,
wished to draw this people into close communion
with Himself. " I will dwell in the midst of them :
I will be their God. I will dwell with them and
they shall dwell in me." He wished to marry them.
He wished to become one of them — to become one
with them. What a contradiction is there here.
God says, " Then I will be merciful, I will forgive
all your sins ; I will bring you near to myself," and
God forgives sins in such a way that He is the Holy
One, and that nothing of what He has said against
sin is cancelled, and that the connection between
sin and the wrath of God, and sin and death and
the curse, is only made clearer. Therefore He gives
to Israel the sacrifices : " Without shedding of blood
there is no remission of sin." God is a just God, and
yet the justifier of the guilty. The feeling of the
sinfulness of guilt and pollution is only deepened
in the hearts of Israel, who receive the forgiveness
of sin. Observe the language of the 51st Psalm.
David had nothing but the law of Moses, to teach

OF THE DECALOGUE AND WHOLE LAW 333

him the 51st Psalm; and in this 51st Psahn he
says, " Have mercy upon me according to thy loving-
kindness : according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies blot out all my iniquities, for my sin is ever
before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,
that thou mightcst be justified when thou judgest.
And not merely have I sinned, but I am altogether
a mass of sin. My whole existence is sin. I was
shapen in iniquity." The law had impressed upon
him the 3rd chapter of Genesis, that we are ruined
in the fall of Adam, and inherit this guilt which
separates us from God. " Purge me with hyssop
and I shall be clean" (the blood of Christ) ; "Wash me
and I shall be whiter than snow " (the divine righteous-
ness imputed to us). So you see the law did what God
meant it to do, and lest Israel should imagine that God
forgives sins — but that we must do our part and sanc-
tify ourselves unto the Lord — lest there should be any
such idea of co-operation in the mind of Israel, any such
conditional salvation — oh, how was Israel continually
taught : " I, even I, am He that sanctifies thee." For
how can you explain in the Psalms the constant
cry which rose out of Israel, " Incline my heart to
keep thy commandments"; — then the heart was not
inclined to keep the commandments of God. Read
the 119th Psalm, and if there is any Pelagianism
or Arminianism in you, it will be rooted up by the
grace of God ; and although you often read in the
Old Testament " Sanctify yourselves," that has only
reference to this ceremonial cleansing and to outward
bodily preparations for coming near to God. In the
New Testament you never read about sanctifying
yourselves, — for Christ is our sanctification, who by
His blood has transplanted us out of the region of

334 DEEP SPIRITUAL MEANING

sin and death, and brought us into the region of
righteousness and Hfe by God's electing love — by the
power of the blood of Jesus and through the applica-
tion of the Holy Ghost, — all which was shown in the
law which God gave to Israel. Therefore God ap-
pointed holy persons, priests, and holy places where
He would reveal Himself and give to Israel His
gifts, and enable Israel to bring to Him their gifts
to the tabernacle. And He appointed holy times,
festivals, in which all the various component parts
of the divine dealings in redemption are broken up,
as it were, into fragments, that they may be taught
one aspect after another. Oh it was a wonderfully
merciful dispensation.

I must pass over this to say only one thing.
With all its beauty, with all its glory, and with all
its loving-kindness, the law was a failure. It made
nothing perfect ; the people of Israel felt that all
these were shadows. They all knew that the
blood of beasts could not take away sins. They
all knew that the sacrifices had to be repeated
continually. They all knew that the day of atone-
ment was only for one year, starting them as it
were again, so that the communion between God and
Israel might be kept up for another year. Therefore
under the Old Testament, as the apostle teaches us
in the Hebrews, the conscience was not made perfect
concerning sin, and the forgiveness which they had,
was, so to speak, only through the patience and for-
bearance of God, waiting, as the apostle says in the 3rd
chapter of the epistle to the Romans, until the blood,
the real blood of Jesus Christ, was brought into the
Holy of Holies. " The law made nothing perfect," and
although the righteousness was not perfectly revealed

OF THE DECALOGUE AND WHOLE LAW 335

and appropriated under the law, yet all who believed
were accepted of God, and beloved. So God, in
the strict sense of the word, was not yet revealed
in the Holy of Holies, where there was darkness, for
God dwelleth in light unapproachable, and the very
excess of that light makes it unapproachable, and
the very excess of that light makes it darkness to man.
Into that Holy of Holies the priests could not go, the
Levites could not go, the people could not go, and
the high priest could go only once a year, the Holy
Ghost thus signifying that the way into the Holy of
Holies had not yet been made manifest. Well might
Philip say to our blessed Jesus, " Show us the Father
and it sufficeth us " — that was the desire of Israel
during all the preceding years — and Jesus said, " lie
that hath seen me hath seen the Father " ; and the
true tabernacle, the eternal sanctuary of God is above,
and thus we read, " If any man sin we have an
advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the
righteous." And there was a third thing that was
not given by the law. That was the indwelling of
the Holy Ghost, for as the apostle Paul says, " If life
could have been given by the law," it would not have
been necessary for Jesus Christ to come, and to die.
They were in the spirit of bondage, in the spirit of
little children who were now under tutors and
governors, but unto all who believe in Jesus, there
is given the Holy Ghost as the indwelling spirit and
comforter. Therefore in them is fulfilled the right-
eousness of the law, who walk not after the flesh but
after the spirit. And to conclude, what applies to
the law in order to obtain righteousness or the know-
ledge of God, or the possession of the Holy Ghost,
applies to everything else in connection with Israel ;

336 SPIRITUAL MEANING OF DECALOGUE, ETC.

for what the law could not do in that it was weakened
through the flesh, God Himself must do. Where is
the land which God gave unto Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob ? Is it not trodden down under foot of the
Gentiles ? And has not God promised it to them,
and has not God given to them this law on purpose
that they might enjoy the land, and He would make
it a fruitful and lovely land, where every man could
sit under his own fig-tree and rejoice in the bounty
of the Lord his God ? They have not got it. Why
have they not got it? What the law could not do
in that it was weakened through the flesh, must be
left to Jesus to accomplish. And so, as to the whole
history of the Old Testament, you may write upon
it that it is a failure, because it was weakened
through the flesh. But you may write upon it that
it is yea and amen in Christ Jesus, who is the Alpha
and the Omega, the root and the offspring of David,
the son of Abraham, and yet the I Am, before Abra-
ham. Oh that the Lord would hasten the day when
there will be no agnostics, but when " all flesh shall
know that I am the Lord," when the glory tran-
scendent of the new covenant will show us the
faithfulness and grace of God manifested to Israel.
Amen.

XVI

THE JEWISH ORDINANCES SHOWN TO REVEAL
VIVIDLY THE GOSPEL

The object of God's revealing Himself — Worship — The tribe of Levi—
The priests — Their office — The high -priest — Anointed as sym-
bolising Messiah in his priestly functions of sacrifice and interces-
sion— The blessing of the sons of Aaron — Its full gospel meaning
— The special place of worship pre-figuring the heavenly sanctuary
— The tabernacle — The times represented l)y the number seven
— The festivals — The national law based on the sanctities of family
life — Perfect justice — Respect to the liberties and rights of the
people — Regard for the poor and the stranger — Tenure of land
— Moses the Mediator — In so many things, he foreshadowed Christ
and the Gospel.

I MUST say at the beginning that I am obh'ged,
very reluctantly, to give up my intention of speaking
at present on the course of prophecy, which had
its starting-point in David. As there were so many
points with regard to Moses, which I was not able
to bring before you in the last lecture, I must limit
myself to concluding the remarks, which I made
upon Moses and the dispensation that was entrusted
to him.

The object of God's revealing Himself is worship.
God reveals Himself to man in order that man may
worship Him. God comes to man in order that man
may come to God. God reveals Himself to us as a
holy God. God reveals to us what man is, in order

Z

338 THE JEWISH ORDINANCES SHO]VN TO

that He may show us the wonderful solution of this
problem : — How there can be communion between
God and man in the person of His own Son, who is
God and man in one person, and who bringeth .us
unto the Father. He had chosen Israel to be His
nation, a nation of priests. They were " holy unto
the Lord." And yet, as in themselves they were full
of sin, and under the sentence of death, He gave
them the law in order to show that sin was
exceedingly sinful, and that in His presence neither
sin nor death was able to stand. And thus the
whole life of the Israelite, from his birth to his death,
was concluded under sin, and he was continually
reminded, by the purifications and sacrifices which
he had to offer, that all that was connected with
himself and with his earthly life was polluted by sin,
and required the grace of God and the propitiation
of a mediator, in order that it might be no hindrance
or obstacle to his having communion with God. -

But although the whole nation was in that way
" Holiness unto the Lord," yet it pleased God out of
that nation to select for Himself one tribe, to be as it
were the representative of the nation ; although every-
thing that was said of the tribe of Levi, when Korah
rebelled against their priority, may be said of all
Israel : " On the morrow ye shall know who is mine,
and who is holy, and whom I have chosen, that he
may draw near unto God " ; yet it was necessary
that this special tribe should be to Israel a type and
illustration of what was meant by holiness, and of
what the purposes of God were concerning them.
They stood before God, drawing near unto Him, and
in this way representing the whole nation that was
to be brought into His presence. It was they who

REVEAL VIVIDLY THE GOSPEL 339

offered the sacrifices and offerings unto the Lord ;
it was they who by incense showed, that the prayers
and supplications of the whole nation of Israel could
only ascend unto God through holiness, and it was
through them, that the blessing of the Most High
was pronounced upon His people. When we think
of the priests and Levites as they were among Israel,
we must look away altogether from the abuses which
afterwards crept in among Israel, and in a still worse
way, into the medijeval Church. In the first place,
the priests that were in Israel had no political power.
Their position, and the way in which they were
sustained, precluded them from exercising any undue
influence over the course of the nation. They were
not like a priestly caste as we find it among other
nations, nor did they exert that influence which
afterwards, in the days of our Lord, the hierarchy in
Palestine exercised over the nation. Another thing
to be remarked about them was this — they did not
appoint themselves, nor did the people appoint them,
but God appointed them. And it was they who
were descended from Aaron, who belonged to the
tribe of Levi, who by reason of their birth were ap-
pointed to represent the whole nation, and especially
the first born of the nation, unto God. Nor had they
any power to develop the law. There was nothing
in the form of tradition, there was nothing in the
form of teaching and developing power, given to them.
On the contrary, it was their duty to guard the law
that nothing should be added to it, and that nothing
should be taken away from it. And lastly — not as
was the case in the mediaeval Church, and is still
the case in the Church of Rome — ^was the relation
between the individual conscience and God in any

340 THE JEWISH ORDINANCES SHOWN TO

wise interfered with, by the existence of the Levites
and priesthood. They were not father confessors. It
was the individual himself who, of his own accord and
according to his own ability, confessed his sins and
laid his hands upon the sacrifice. The priest in no
wise interfered with the conscientious difficulties, and
with the soul troubles of the people that came to
him. It was for him only to carry out the regulations,
which were laid down in the books of Moses, for it
was deeply impressed upon Israel that although there
were priests and Levites, yet it was only, so to speak,
a sad necessity that led to this, — and that the whole
nation was a nation of priests unto the Lord.

But in this priesthood we find that there was one
who was distinct above his brethren. He was called
the " High-Priest," or, according to the original in
one passage, the priest that is greater than his
brethren, and upon whose head is the anointing oil.
Although there was anointing connected with the
induction of all the priests and Levites, yet it is
most emphatically said of this one priest who is
greater than his brethren, that the anointing oil was
upon his head, or, in other words, that he was re-
presentative of Messiah. And it was the prerogative,
and the prerogative of the high-priest alone, that on
the day of atonement he was allowed to enter into
the Holy of Holies, and there to apply the blood of
propitiation unto the mercy- seat, or the lid which
covered the ark of the covenant, thus showing
that the whole glory of the priesthood and the
whole glory of Israel consisted in this — that through
atonement they were finally to be brought before
the very face of the Most High, there to be ac-
cepted by Him, and regarded with His good pleasure.

REVEAL VIVIDLY THE GOSPEL 341

And here is a remarkable point, which shows the
imperfection of mere individual types, all of which
have to be combined, in order to give us an approxi-
mate idea of the fulness that is in Christ, Sacrifices
and offerings and all the services, which were offered
unto the Lord on behalf of His people, were not
sufficient to effect communion between God and
them. It was necessary that there should be a
person who represented Israel before God, and here
comes in again that idea which at first sight appears
so strange to us, but which runs through all the
dealings of God with man — the idea of a federal
representative, — of one who represents a multitude.
So Adam represented the whole human race, and
so Aaron represented the whole nation of Israel.
When God is pleased with Aaron, He is pleased
with the whole nation. This man Aaron is in the
sight of God, Israel. Upon his forehead is written
" Holiness unto the Lord." And not merely does
he represent Israel in that he brings the blood of
propitiation into the Holy of Holies, but all Israel's
holy things are full of defilement and pollution ;
their prayers, their sacrifices, their offerings, their
services, would altogether be in vain, unless there
was this one man to bring them before the Lord,
and to make intercession on behalf of them, and
on behalf of the sins of their holy things. What a
wonderful thing it is, then, that although all Israel
was holy unto the Lord, because God had chosen
them to be His, and that although the first born of
Israel belonged unto the Lord, instead of whom
stood the priests and the Levites ; and although
there were sacrifices of every kind and description,
all showing forth the various aspects of our being

342 THE JEWISH ORDINANCES SHOWN TO

brought near to God, yet in this one man stood all
Israel ; — the forgiveness of their sins, the acceptance
of theic offerings, their justification, and their sancti-
fication were all vested in this one man.

There is another idea connected with the priest-
hood, and especially with the high - priest, which is
of great importance, and it is this : God is holy,
and that which cannot stand before a holy God is
twofold — namely sin and death. Sin and every-
thing pertaining to it, death and everything leading
up to it : these two are excluded from the presence
of God, for God is the living One and God is of
purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and both these
ideas are included in that which includes everything,
namely, that God is holy, or God is God. Therefore
the priest was never allowed to come into contact with
death. He was the representative of life. Death
did not exist for him, — in so far as he was a priest.
And this is the beautiful symbol and sign which
God gave to Israel — that Aaron's rod budded and
brought forth blossoms and almonds — for what we
want is righteousness, and what we want is life ;
and the law, because it is weakened by the flesh,
can neither give us righteousness nor can it give us
life ; but there is righteousness and there is life, not
in any sacrifices, not in any services, though they
also adumbrate Jesus Christ, but in a person — in the
great priest — in Jesus Christ who is called the priest
after the power of an endless life. There is only one
other point, and I must pass on from these holy persons.
As representatives of the nation and as the types of
our Saviour Jesus, they had to bring the blessings
of God to His people. God alone can bless us, and
the blessing of God includes everything that God, in

REVEAL VIVIDLY THE GOSPEL 343

His sovereignty and in His covenant love, intends to
give to His people. And that remarkable blessing
that the sons of Aaron pronounced upon the congre-
gation of Israel is a summary of all God's teachings
and of all God's promises. The doctrine of the
blessed Trinity can be clearly seen in it by us, and,
to a certain extent, must have been understood by
the children of Israel, who continually heard that
benediction, and rested in it. God, in so far as He
is incomprehensible and infinite, the hidden source
of all blessing and of all preservation, is the Father.
The Father hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, and it is the Father
also who keeps us holy. " Father, keep through
thine own name those whom thou hast given me."
And everything that can be seen of God is mani-
fested in the Son, who is the countenance of God.
Therefore the second part of the blessing proceeds
"The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be
gracious unto thee " in that manifestation of himself,
which is in Christ Jesus. But all that is in God
incomprehensible and hidden, and all that is in God,
manifested and through propitiation purchased for
us, cannot be appropriated, unless it be by the power
of the Holy Ghost. Therefore we have here God
again, Jehovah, lifting up the light of His countenance,
and so applying it to the mind and conscience that
we may have peace. This was the wonderful bene-
diction which the sons of Aaron in God's name pro-
nounced upon the people, and this is the only trace
that I can discover in the Old Testament of anything
like a fixed form, that was to be used in the services
of God. The prayers of the people, the prayers of the
priests, the intercession of the high-priest, were not

344 THE JEWISH ORDINANCES SHOWN TO

trammelled by any fixed form of words, but, were ex-
pressed as the Spirit gave them utterance ; thus they
poured out the desires of their hearts before the Lord ;
but what God wished to give to His people — the
covenant revelation and blessings of His infinite love
— was given to the people by the words chosen by
the Holy Ghost — to be to Israel a never-ending and
inexhaustible source of strength and of consolation.

As there were holy men set apart, although all
Israel was holy, so there was a place set apart in
which God and His people were to meet, where
God manifested His glory, where He bestowed upon
Israel the blessings of forgiveness, acceptance, and all
that was necessary for their spiritual life, and where
God also enabled Israel of His own to give back to
Him again. The gifts which He bestows are changed
into gifts, which Israel offers again unto the Lord.

You know from reading the whole Old Testa-
ment that Israel never entertained any superstitious
idea that God could not be worshipped everywhere.
" From the utmost corner of the land will I cry unto
Thee." Wherever God manifests Himself there is
holy ground. When the manifestation of God is at
an end, the holiness of the ground is also at an end.
But quite in consistency with this idea, God wished
to show to Israel that there was only one mode of
worshipping Him, and wished also to pre-figure that
great meeting-place, where God and His people will be
united together for ever, in Christ Jesus our Saviour.
It is impossible for me to say more than what may
just serve to remind you of this wonderful tabernacle,
which is explained to some extent in the epistle to
the Hebrews, but which every Christian, more or less,
through the light of the New Testament teaching, is

REVEAL VIVIDLY THE GOSPEL 345

able to explain to himself. Thirteen chapters are de-
voted to the description of the temple, whereas scarcely
two chapters are devoted to the narration of the crea-
tion of the world. For this purpose was the whole
world prepared — that God and His people should be
united together, and that there should be glory to
God, through the pardon and sanctification of a people
whom He has chosen unto Himself In the outer
court, where the people were allowed to come, we
have Christ manifested, as our substitution and as our
atonement. There, stood the brazen altar upon which
the sacrifices were brought into the holy place, where
the priests served. There, was the candlestick with
seven branches. There, was the table with the
twelve loaves of the hallowed bread. There, was
the golden altar of incense. In the Holy of Holies
there was always darkness, but there was the ark of
the covenant, for everything was based upon the
covenant which was made with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. And as the great treasure and jewel of that
covenant — inside the ark — there was the law of
God ; and since Israel was a transgressor of the law
of God, there was the mercy-seat or the lid which was
sprinkled with the blood. And since in Israel, as
afterwards in the Church, there was to be shown, to
the powers and principalities, the wonderful depth of
the love of God and the end and purpose of all crea-
tion, there were the cherubim, as the representatives
of God's creative glory, who desired to look into this
mystery. The light which was in the holy place
was in reality the manifestation of that light which
could not be seen on account of its great brightness,
and that light is none other but Christ ; and at the
same time that lisrht is also in believers who in

346 THE JEWISH ORDINANCES SHOWN TO

Christ Jesus are light unto the Lord, even as Israel
in Jehovah was a light unto the Gentiles. The
bread which was upon the table in one aspect was the
bread which God gave unto the twelve tribes, it was
the bread which came down from heaven, in which
the countenance of God was manifested ; but on the
other hand, it was also the bread which the twelve
tribes offered unto God, working for bread which
should not perish, bringing forth that which in the
sight of God was regarded as the true bread, and thus
satisfied Him, because it was the life of His people.
And so was the golden altar of incense a representa-
tion of the prayer that is acceptable to God — both
the prayer of Christ and the prayer of all who are
Christ's, who only in Him and with Him are able to
offer up their petitions to the Father. The difficulty
of explaining the tabernacle is this — that God in His
wonderful wisdom has combined so many things by
this one illustration, for the primary fulfilment is in
Christ who was the tabernacle. " The Word was
made flesh and tabernacled among us." " Destroy
the temple and I will build it again ; this spake he
of his body." And in this temple there were two
things that there were in the tabernacle — the glory
of God revealing Himself, and Jesus in His humanity
giving to God all that man can give to God, that is
well pleasing to the Father, And if even this ap-
plication already contains such a number of elements
and aspects that we can only profitably meditate,
so to speak, superficially on them, the riches and
abundance of the teaching of the tabernacle appear
still more, when we go on to say that the fulfilment
of the tabernacle is not in Christ alone, but that it is
in Christ in union with His people — that in Christ

REVEAL VIVIDLY THE GOSPEL 347

both God and man meet, God showing Himself to
us. and God giving in Christ all that we need, light
and bread and the power of prayer, after having been
reconciled to us by the blood of Christ, — and we
offering up to God in Christ all the offerings that
are pleasing to Him, and being a light before God,
and showing to God that the purposes of His grace
are fulfilled in us, through the indwelling of the Spirit.
And so everything in this tabernacle was intended
to teach, — for it was not as sanctuaries of other
nations, built according to the ingenuity and wisdom
of man, but it was built according to the pattern
which God showed to Moses in the Mount. Moses
was only carrying out the idea of God, and all the
men that were engaged in preparing the tabernacle
were fitted and sustained by the Holy Ghost, in
doing this great work. So there is nothing in this
tabernacle that does not teach us. Even in the
metal that is used — where brass is used and where
gold is used — there is always a spiritual meaning.
And so with even the colours which occur and the
order in which the colours occur, for they are always
in the same order. There is the blue, and there is the
purple, and there is the scarlet, and the white, the white
either before the three or after the three, but always
in this order, — the Holy Ghost by all this symbolis-
ing what is reality and substance in Christ Jesus.

I hasten on to the third holy thing represented
— holy times. Here we must notice the times
which are represented by the number seven — the
seventh day, the seventh month of the year, which
was the beginning of the civil year, the seventh year,
and the seven times seventh year, or the fiftieth. And
in all these festivals the same idea is represented.

348 THE JEWISH ORDINANCES SHOWN TO

namely, that, notwithstanding, that this world is under
sin, and under the chastening government of God,
it is the wish of God that in all our affliction, and in
all our trouble, and in all our labour, we should always
return to Him and find in Him our rest and our joy —
and therefore the burden and the toil are ameliorated,
the deeds are cancelled and released. The property
in the fiftieth year . returns to the original owner,
God showing to us in all things that although we
are here upon earth, and although we are a sinful and
fallen people, yet, being His people, the number that
characterises us is not six but seven, for six without
the seven is a dreadful number, as is shown by that
mystical number in the book of Revelation — six
hundred and sixty -six. But ours is the seventh,
because we are holy unto the Lord, and even here
have a foretaste of the coming glory. And Israel
specially as a nation was to show forth that glorious
millennium which we are all awaiting, when upon
the earth there shall be the beauty of the Lord, and
all things shall rejoice before Him, and be pros-
perous through His presence.

Then we have the other festivals all based upon
the passover, which is the beginning of the year —
the passover of which we find in the Bible seven
celebrations recorded, the last being that, at which
our blessed Saviour brake the bread and gave to His
disciples. There is one aspect of the passover which
is often overlooked, and that is the resurrection of
our blessed Saviour, when the sheaf, as the beginning
of the harvest, was waved towards heaven on the
first day after the Sabbath, or on the first day of the
week, which is Christ the first-fruits rising from the
dead, after having been the Paschal Lamb. And so,

REVEAL VIVIDLY THE GOSPEL 349

seven weeks after that, there was the feast, when the
harvest had been completed, for God combined the
works of grace with the manifestations of His good-
ness in nature ; and specially as Israel was an
agricultural nation, all the blessings of God in nature
and the events of the natural year were to be
connected with the events of divine grace and re-
demption. And then we have the two loaves, that
is the conclusion of the harvest, and the realisation
of the harvest in Israel being holy unto the Lord,
afterwards fulfilled in Pentecost, when the hundred
and twenty were filled with the Holy Ghost. This
is the fulfilment, as the resurrection of Jesus is the
fulfilment of the waving of the sheaf. And then
there was the feast of tabernacles which looked for-
ward to the future when Israel should rejoice before
the Lord, reminding of the days in the wilderness,
that they might always be humble before Him, but
delivered from all their troubles ; — and the day
of atonement, upon which the whole communion of
Israel with God rested from year to year.

And novv^ I need not say more than a few
words about the fulfilment and the substance of all
this to us. Among Christians there are no priests,
because all are priests. All Christians are holy unto
the Lord. They are a royal priesthood. They are
all of them priests to offer up sacrifices unto the
Lord. Those who are appointed to be stewards of
the mysteries of God, and shepherds of the congrega-
tions, have many names assigned to them in the New
Testament epistles, but never is the word " priest "
applied to them, because it would have been quite
unintelligible both to them and their congregations,
and a contradiction of everything that they had been

3SO THE JEWISH ORDINANCES SHOWN TO

taught ; for the priesthood of our blessed Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ is not after the order of Aaron,
but after the order of Melchizedek, — and all, who be-
long to Jesus, are holy in Him. To quote the words
of a recent writer in Germany on the question of holi-
ness : " It was only when the Jewish Christian branch
of the Church had, so to speak, disappeared, that not
knowing the Old Testament in the original, but only
from the Septuagint version, the deterioration in the
view of people with regard to holiness commenced
and rapidly developed," for the idea of holiness, as I
have often had occasion to remark, is a twofold one.
The first, the fundamental, the primary idea, is that
which God in His election separates unto Himself.
The second idea, which is merely derivative, although
special and precious, is the idea of purity — that
what He has separated unto Himself is to con-
sider itself separated from sin, and from the world,
and from all ungodliness. But as in those days
they had chiefly to do with the gross sins and vices
of the pagans, which had come into the Christian
Church, so they left out the primary idea of holiness,
and laid more stress upon the secondary idea of holi-
ness— that is purity. Precious as this idea is, — to
present this separate from the primary idea brings us
back into the flesh and to the law, and to that which
is in contradistinction to all the doctrines of grace.
And so it came to pass that people spoke about a
very holy man. Could you imagine the apostle Paul
or the apostle John saying " very holy " ? They
could not say it. The expression " very holy " is an
absurdity, for in holiness there is no degree. We
are separated unto God by Himself. There are
degrees of our faithfulness ; there are degrees of our

REVEAL VIVIDLY THE GOSPEL 351

diligence ; there are degrees of our attainments ; but
in holiness there is no gradation. Likewise is it an
utterly unbiblical idea to speak of " Saint " Paul or
" Saint " John as if the other believers were not
saints. Likewise are there no holy places any
more : " Where two or three are gathered together
in my name I will be in the midst of them " —
while they are gathered together, — but when they
are not gathered together there is nothing in the
place whatever. The only holy place that we have
is the heavenly sanctuary, where Christ is at the
right hand of God. And as there are no holy places,
so are there likewise no holy seasons. There is one
day which we commemorate — the day on which our
blessed Lord rose from the dead ; and that, not
merely in contrast with the day of the Sabbath which
the synagogue observes, but also as a kind of pre-
liminary to it, so that both the ideas of the creation
and of the redemption are combined in this. But how
imperfect all this symbolism is, is evident, because
there are so many things that have to be combined.
The first sign of the imperfection of it all, is that
there are so many things. It is broken up into
fragments, and we know that in reality it could not
be so ; it must be one. And the second sign of
its imperfection is this — that even the priests and
the high-priest had to offer up sacrifices, for them-
selves to appear before God. How glorious is that
perfection which is given to us in Christ Jesus who
is the tabernacle, who is the priest, in whom there
is everything that God taught His people, condescend-
ing in His great mercy to their weakness.

Let me add now a few words upon the law
which God srave to Israel as a nation — the national

352 THE JEWISH ORDINANCES SHOWN TO

law. He was their king. The first time that holi-
ness is mentioned in the Bible is in the song of
Moses after redemption : " Glorious in holiness, who
is like unto Thee ? " The first time that the king-
ship of Jehovah is mentioned is in that same song.
In your translation it says, "Jehovah shall reign" ;
the Hebrew is, " Jehovah shall be king for ever and
for ever." This law which God gave to Moses,
political and civil, or whatever you like to call it, is
wonderful, when we contrast it with all other legisla-
tion. Plato the great philosopher wrote a kind
of poem of what the State should be — the ideal that
he had of a State ; but, in the first place, this was
all a work of imagination, and secondly, even as a
work of imagination, his ideas of a State are such
as cannot for a single moment be compared with
the divine idea of a State. He only regarded what
appeared to him the prosperity of the Common-
wealth. The value of the individual soul, the
sanctity of the family life — these were mysteries to
him, which he was not able to fathom. But oh how
different is that law which God gave to His people.
He Himself, in the strictest sense of the word, was
their king. Law emanates from Him ; and every-
thing that He has commanded, even though it refers
to minute detail of our daily life, has upon it the
impression " I am holy." Parents, governors, magis-
trates, are not representatives of the family or of the
nation ; they are the representatives of God, and in
that respect they are, so to speak, combined with
God. The greatest justice is to be observed. The
judge is to take no bribe. He is to consider all
alike, as in the sight of God. And the idea of
purity pervades the whole law of Moses, even to

REVEAL VIVIDLY THE GOSPEL 353

an extent we are not able to appreciate, because
the distinction that is made with regard, for instance,
to food, and the many regulations that are made
in connection with the various events of life, must
all have a symbolical meaning ; but this we can
understand — they mean that Israel is to be separate
unto the Lord in everything, — for the multiplicity
of duties, relationships, and occupations, which God
has put us into, do not contradict our being " holy
unto the Lord " ; but God Himself must show
us how they are to be used and enjoyed as in
His presence, and as in communion with Him. And
the next question as to the law is this : Where is
the centre of gravity in the commonwealth ? It was
a blasphemous saying of the French king, " I am the
State " ; nor is it right to say that the masses are
the State. The centre of Israel was Jehovah. All
was to Him, and for Him ; and the king upon his
throne, and the governors and rulers, and all the
people were living for one another, because they
were living unto God. The idea of a State, of a
Commonwealth, and all the problems that are con-
nected with it, — most deeply interesting and affecting
as they are when we consider the condition of the
world, — finds its grand solution here, if we would only
study it and lay it to heart. The poorest among the
Jews considered himself a nobleman. The Jews kept
their genealogies. They were a nation of brethren.
The twelve tribes were, as it were, twelve brother-
hoods, and before Jehovah they were all united.
Moses said, anticipating that there would be a king
in Israel, that the king was not to lift up his heart
above his brethren, — nor did God ever wish or com-
mand that in Israel there should be great accumula-

2 A

354 THE JEWISH ORDINANCES SHOWN TO

tion of wealth, and of property. He Himself made
provision against this. Poor there should always be
in the land, but not that abject poverty which we
behold in those countries, that call themselves
Christian. The law was a law of kindness and of
mercy, under which the poor, the lonely, the stranger,
the blind and the weak and the widow and the
orphan were to be considered, — for " I am the Lord."
The cattle were to have rest on the Sabbath day,
and the owners were to see that they were not over-
burdened. And not merely was it a law of kindness,
but it was a law of generosity. In what other legis-
lation do you ever find such a provision made as
this — that when we see an enemy in distress or peril,
we are not to look away, but are to go to his assist-
ance. How wonderfully generous were all the provi-
sions made with regard to the poor ; what generosity
was to be shown to them in the seventh year, and in
the fiftieth year, and at the harvest times. And this
law was a law which had always before itself an idea,
— not an ascetic idea, but an idea of joy and glad-
ness— that Israel was to rejoice before the Lord their
God, in all the occupations which He had given them,
and in all the blessings with which He had sur-
rounded them, in a land that was to be fertile, as
long as they were under the blessing of God, and in
a land that was to be desolate so soon as they de-
parted from God ; for even the land was in sym-
pathy with Jehovah, as it is still in sympathy with
Him. On this very earth of ours, and from the
very fields and plants and trees, there shall be a
response, when man, who is the priest of the whole
creation of God, shall be really such a priest, in the
presence of the Most High. But now we know that

REVEAL VIVIDLY THE GOSPEL 355

the law could not accomplish this, in that it was
weak, through the flesh. Let me remind you of the
principle I announced, which I think is the key, by
which to understand properly the whole Old Testa-
ment. This Mosaic law was a mere intermediate
parenthetical dispensation ; and it was not merely,
with reference to the individual sinner's righteousness
and life, that the law was feeble, but also as to the
life of the nation. With regard to the national
position of Israel, and even with regard to Israel
having a tenure of the land of Canaan, the law
failed, in that it was weakened, through the flesh.
The law made nothing perfect. The law was only
to excite in Israel the great desire after Him, in
whom all the promises of God are Yea and Amen, —
and to prepare and educate Israel for His advent.

And now let us, for a few moments, look upon
Moses, who was the mediator. God does all. — " Of
Him and to Him are all things," — but God uses man
as His instrument. He made the covenant with Abra-
ham; He redeemed Israel by Moses ; He afterwards
elected David to be the beginning of the kingdom, and
upon these men and their faith, so to speak, depended
the continuance of God's dealings with Israel. So we
must learn to combine the two aspects — that all things
are of God, and that the very beginning of our faith
is the gift of God ; and at the same time the other
aspect — that Abraham, Moses, David, the apostles,,
were pillars, and the pillar has to bear a weight, and
if the pillar gives way, that which is based upon it
will also give way. Therefore there was a great
weight upon Abraham, and upon Moses, and upon
David, and upon the apostles. We are built upon
the foundation of the apostles, Jesus Christ being

356 THE JEWISH ORDINANCES SHOWN TO

the head corner-stone. How wonderful was that man,-
Moses, whom God chose to be the mediator of the
old covenant. God chose him ; God watched over
his infancy. How marvellous was His protection.
How marvellous was the providence which brought
Moses into the house of Pharaoh, and still kept up
his connection with his own family, in which Jehovah
was known and worshipped. How marvellous was
that choice which Moses made. He who was the only
Hebrew who could, if he wished, forget his nation,
and their bondage, and degradation, preferred the
reproach of Him, of whom Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
had testified, to all that Egypt was able to offer to
him. How marvellous was it afterwards, in order
that Moses might learn to distinguish between nature
and grace, between flesh and the spirit, that his own
zeal and enthusiasm for his nation came to nothing.
And then for forty years there was a time of quiet
and isolation, when in the wilderness he was a shep-
herd, and there God prepared him for becoming
afterwards the shepherd of the nation. How mar-
vellous was the appearing, in the burning bush, of
God, or rather, of Christ, the angel of the covenant,
who said to him, " I am the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob." God had to make him willing, for now
he was not willing to go, and to be His messenger,
and now he learned the lesson — " When I am weak
then am I strong." God did everything, but all
went through the trembling heart of Moses. By
faith, he led Israel out of Egypt ; by faith, when he
was at the Red Sea, he was crying unto the Lord,
although he uttered not a single word, for the whole
burden of the nation rested upon him. He it was to
whom God gave the law, and God saw in Moses the

REVEAL VIVIDLY THE GOSPEL 357

whole nation. It is most touching to see how the
whole nation of Israel was bound up in that one man
— Moses. When God was not pleased with Israel, He
said to Moses, " TJiy people whom thou hast brought
up out of Egypt," and Moses complained to God and
said, " Have I begotten them ? Am I their father ? "
Am I their mother ? Am I to bear and nourish
them ? Moses was full of zeal for the glory of God.
He forgot self completely. " What will the nation
say if thou, who hast brought them out of Egypt,
dost not consummate thy work and thy purposes ? "
Very touching is the intercession of Abraham for
Sodom and Gomorrah, — but there, we are in a dif-
ferent region. Abraham appeals to God as the God
of heaven and earth, who will do what is right.
Abraham is touched, with a feeling of pity and
compassion, for the inhabitants of these cities ;
Abraham thinks, it would not be according to
justice that destruction should come upon them,
if there were a few righteous men. All this is
very noble, is very much according to the mind of
God, and shows a heart full of faith and full of love.
But still higher was the position of Moses. He
alone knew God ; he alone knew Israel. When he
was before God, it was only Israel ; when he was
with Israel, it was only God. When God was going
to destroy Israel, and" He offered to make Moses
a great nation, Moses was willing to be anathema,
that Israel might be saved. Never did any one
rise to such a height — a height which it is almost
impossible to contemplate, without bewilderment —
but that dear apostle Paul who was willing to be
anathema, on account of Israel, his kinsmen accord-
ing to the flesh. Jesus Christ Himself is the great

358 THE JEWISH ORDINANCES SHOWN TO

Intercessor, who was not merely willing to die for
us, but who was actually made sin for us, and a
curse for us, in order that Ave might be brought to
God. And this Moses, as the servant of God, was
faithful in all God's house. He was prophet, priest,
and king in Israel. To him was revealed the glory
of God. To him were shown the mysteries of the
kingdom, in the pattern on the Mount. His patience,
his meekness, his love, his tenderness, his fortitude, his
zeal — there seems no single attribute, in the character
of the man of God, that was wanting in him ; and
therefore it is difficult to speak of any excelling
virtue in Moses, because he seems to have possessed
all virtues. And yet you know that Moses also failed,
and, strange to say, he failed just in the faithful
representing of the mercy of God, the sovereignty
and the grace of God, which is full of tenderness and
of kindness, — when he did not sanctify God before the
people, — when he did not show them the entire for-
giveness of God, — that, notwithstanding all their ob-
stinacy and rebelliousness, God was not merely about
to supply them with water, but was going to give it to
them, — without rebuking them, — or reproaching them.
This was the sin of Moses — that he did not sanctify
God before the nation. How can we sanctify God ?
What can we do ? It is by not doing anything, that
we sanctify God. It is just by leaving the name of
God as it is, that we sanctify God, — and there it was
that Moses failed. And so the book of Numbers is
full of sadness and melancholy, and would end alto-
gether in darkness, if it were not for the book of
Deuteronomy, in which Moses appears as the prophet,
seeing into the far distance, showing to us, in the
first place, the spirituality of the law — that it is love

REVEAL VIVIDLY THE GOSPEL 359

to God and love to man — and then showing that God
would never forsake Israel, but that, after all their
backsliding, and after all their apostasy, and after all
the punishments which would come upon them, God
would again have mercy upon them, and bring them
home to Himself, and the prayer would at last be
fulfilled— Oh that they were wise, and had a heart
to obey my commandments.

The chief promise which God gave to Israel, in
which there is advance upon the promises given in
the book of Genesis, is the promise through Moses,
that a prophet like unto himself, God should raise up
to the nation, from among their brethren ; and the
adherence to this prophet was to be the essential
condition of a person belonging to the people of
God. To belong to this prophet was to belong to
God ; to reject this prophet was to reject God.

Now let me say a few words on the death of
Moses. The last words on record, uttered by the
lips of Moses, are words of blessing, — even as our
Saviour, before He was lifted up to heaven, blessed
His disciples — " Happy art thou, O Israel " ; and
then although Moses was still strong, his eye full of
brightness, and his natural strength not abated, he
died. He died not in the course of nature, — but as
an expression of the displeasure of God, on account
of his sin, — and also because it was not possible that
Moses who represented the law should lead Israel
into the promised land. Here we see how no human
type was able to combine all that is in Christ. We
must take Moses and Joshua together to complete
this type. But God, before Moses died, showed to
him, no doubt in a miraculous way, from the top of
Mount Nebo, all the land which He was about to give

36o THE JEWISH ORDINANCES SHOWN TO

to His people. Then there was a remarkable thing,
— Moses who was the man of God, Moses with whom
God spoke, as a friend speaks to his friend, must die,
— and therein was a most solemn lesson to himself
and to all Israel. It was the dispensation of death,
and he also, as a transgressor, must die. But it
did not seem good to the heavenly wisdom, that the
shadow of death should be beheld on that counten-
ance, which at one time was so radiant with the
glory of God that Israel was not able to look upon
it, — and therefore it was that God Himself buried
Moses ; and, many centuries after, we behold on the
Mount of Transfiguration this same Moses, who
represents the past and the law, and Elijah, who
represents the prophets and the future, appearing
to our Saviour Jesus Christ, and their conversation
was about the death which Jesus should accomplish
at Jerusalem ; and then the disciples, after having
beheld Moses and Elijah, beheld Jesus, and Jesus
only ; and the promise and prediction which Moses
had given — " A prophet like unto me shall the Lord
thy God raise up from among thy brethren " — was
now ratified by the voice which came from the ex-
cellent glory and said " Hear him." So it is that
Moses leads us to Christ, in order that afterwards we
should see Christ only.

There is a twofold application of this with which
I must conclude.

The first is with regard to the Jews. During this
whole present dispensation, although it is their great
pride and delight to say " We are the disciples of
Moses," Moses is buried, and they know not where he
is. So was the law utterly unintelligible to Saul of
Tarsus, and he thought that he had kept the law, and

REVEAL VIVIDLY THE GOSPEL 361

that he had a righteousness of his own, not under-
standing that the law was spiritual, and that neither
righteousness nor life came by the law ; but when
Jesus appeared to him, then Saul of Tarsus not
merely saw Jesus, but he saw also Moses. He
understood then what was the real glory of Moses —
to lead us to the Saviour ; and therefore he says
that Israel when they read the law are not able to
understand it, because there is a veil upon their hearts,
but that when Israel shall turn to the Lord — he does
not say " if" as if there were uncertainty ; it is a mere
question of time — whenever Israel shall turn to the
Lord, then the veil shall be taken away from their
hearts, and they shall not merely see Jesus, but they
shall understand, how it was the Lord who buried
Moses, and that this Moses lives, because he testified
of Christ.

And the second application is to ourselves. It
was the sign of a sincere Israelite, who loved the law
of Moses, that, being convinced of his guilt, and of
the weakness of the flesh, he longed after the Messiah,
and after the promise of the Father, — the Holy Ghost ;
and it is a sign of our sincerity, who profess to have
received Jesus and the Holy Ghost, that we delight
ourselves in the law, and that the righteousness of
the law is fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit.

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